


Player 3 [Press Start]

by SimplyPA



Category: Be More Chill, Be More Chill - Ned Vizinni
Genre: Asexual Character, Bisexual Michael, F/M, Friendship/Love, Original Character(s), Teen Romance, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-06-17 18:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 28,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15467832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyPA/pseuds/SimplyPA
Summary: Everyone thinks high school is better when you roll with the Popular Kids. But is it worth it when you feel like you don't belong? Oliver Barnes, a new student to Middle Borough high, is at a crossroads. School sucks, her friends suck and she misses her old home immensely. Is there a way for her to be more happy?





	1. Fast Times At Middle Borough High

Rolling my eyes I shut my locker. I was listening to Jenna, Brooke and Chloe talk about the latest gossip they’d heard. This time it featured Madeline, and their regular staple of shaming this girl for deciding to have sex. Apparently, she’d hooked up with Jake Dillinger and, from what I’ve heard them say about him - he hooks up a lot. However, these three of course never shit talk him. 

I tune them out as I lean against my locker. I begin silently looking around the hallway. Most people here at Middle Borough have spent their entire lives in Metuchen, New Jersey, I’d only been here for roughly a month. I was still having a hard time learning about who was who. Often people would tell me that I was ‘lucky’ that Chloe, Brooke and Jenna took to me instantly on the first day. I felt they only liked me for the fact that I had said I moved from L.A. 

A had waved in front of my face and I break out of my trance. 

“Olive? Hello? Opinion?” She asked. I raised an eyebrow. “On what? The fact you got my name wrong again?”  
“No! On Madeline and her slutty pool bet, Olivia!” She complained. “It’s like you don’t even listen at all.”  


I thought about telling her I would listen when she got my name right, unfortunately as I opened my mouth I was cut off when this guy walked by us. He was pretty tall and thin, he didn’t even say anything as he passed just quickly glanced at us. “Oh my god,” Chloe said as loud as usual. “He is totally getting off on that.”  


The boy lowered his head and walked away. I wanted to apologize to him but he couldn’t look any of us in the eye. I don’t blame him. Chloe returns talking to the other two girls, seeming to have forgot about wanting my opinion. _It’s for the best,_ I think, _She wouldn’t like my answer._ Thankfully before I can be questioned again the bell rings. 

“Well see you guys at lunch.” I said grabbing my bag off the floor and walking off toward my English class. At least I’ll have a few hours free of them.


	2. Like The Cool Kids

My classes tend to go by fast, I wasn’t the kind of person who would talk to other students usually just listened to my teachers and did my work by myself. The bell rang to signal lunch and I quickly scampered off to the cafeteria. My parents would give me money every day for lunch, I didn’t usually spend it as sitting at the ‘popular kids’ table with Brooke, Chloe and Jenna, usually resulted in food being brought from outside the school. Often pizza, or McDonald's, there was even a sushi bar nearby that sometimes they would have someone get. I didn’t feel like any of that, and I had noticed that they were serving a salad that looked okay to eat. After purchasing my food, and a snack bag of chips from the vending machine, I went to sit at the table by Brooke. I noticed her eyeing my tray as if she was surprised that I decided to eat something from the cafeteria. Not too long after I sat down, Jake, Rich, and an ensemble of other popular students sat down with the rest of us.

As they all started chatting I zoned out again. I had nothing in common with these kids and frankly, when I did listen and try to engage in their conversations it was always forced. Like I was trying to think of the one thing to say that would please them the most like I had a personality that I specifically made to interact with them. That wasn’t me at all, so I surrender to just being adjacently ‘popular’. My eyes scanned the cafeteria as I tuned out the students around me. That's when I saw, just on the other side of the room from where I was sat, the Tall Guy from earlier today.

He was smiling happy, and enthusiastically chatting with another familiar looking guy. It took me a moment to place how I knew him. We had Chemistry class together. He had dark fluffy hair that was short on the sides and longer on the top, wore glasses and had headphones around his neck. He was an Asian guy and he wore a red hoodie with patches stitched and ironed on all over. I’d never talked to him before, and frankly, I don’t think I’d ever even caught his name during class. _Is he looking over at me? Fuck._

Thankfully Brooke was waving her hand in front of my face again. 

“Sorry?” I asked.  
“Jake was just saying that we should all join the after-school Play,” Brooke explained. I chewed my salad as I turned my attention to Jake.  
“Does he now?” I swallowed. “Why?”  
“C’mon Olivia don’t you want to be part of this school?” He said. I narrowed my eyes at him. _Not really._  
“Hard pass, my dad often asks me over after school to help in his office,” I shrugged. “That’s not my name.”

Jake didn’t seem to notice my criticism. Jenna then pointed out that the only reason Jake wanted to join the play was so he could impress Christine Canigula. He argued back that it would be fun. Rich argued that he would not under any circumstance join the play and I went back to tuning them out and eating my food.


	3. Leaving Friends & A Westbound Sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver gets a call from an old friend.

Mom and Dad texted me saying that surgery would be going longer than expected. I was on my own for dinner. Once I got home I took a quick shower before looking through the cabinets to find what to eat. This was a normal situation for me. I hadn’t exactly lied to Jake earlier, sometimes I did help out as a receptionist for my dad, but most days I was home on my own, I liked it that way. After a little searching, I found the ingredient I needed to make myself some quinoa stuffed peppers and got to work. 

While waiting on the oven to finish preheating the iMac on the kitchen counter started ringing. Facetime, Liz Ruiz CallingI clicked accept while I pulled a chair over with my foot. 

“OLIVER!”  
“Liz! We finally got Wifi!” I said excitedly.   
“I’ve been trying to call you almost every day,” She said pushing her dark curls behind her hair. “What’re you doing?”  
“Making dinner, Mom and Dad are still at the O.R.”  
“You have got to stop phrasing it that way anyone who doesn’t know they’re doctors is going to think you’re parents are ill,” Liz chuckled. I smiled at her, it was so good to hear from her after nearly two months. “Any new friends to replace me?” 

“Oh c’mon, no one could ever replace you, don’t be ridiculous, these idiots can’t even get my name right. It’s always Olive or Olivia.”  
“You hate both of those names. I remember when you nearly threw Max across the room for calling you Ollie once,” Liz deadpanned. “Why not pull that.” 

The oven beeped letting me know it was done preheating. After I put my food in and set a timer I slumped over on the counter, arms crossed and chin rested on them. I shrugged. 

“I dunno, if I did they’d think I’m crazy and then I’d be in a new school all alone. Last time I pulled a stunt like that only one person would talk to me after.”\  
“It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, you fool.” She scolded me. I laughed. 

We continued talking that night about everything going on back in L.A and everything going on here while I ate my dinner. Liz had always been able to make me feel better ever since we met in second grade. 

Our classmate Max had called me Ollie no matter how many times I told him to call my Oliver. Ollie was a nickname that really only family members could call me. I got so mad at one point because he said my name couldn’t be Oliver because that’s a boys name and I was a girl. And at seven years old, I grabbed him by the collar and told him that if he called me anything but Oliver one more time I would make him more of a girl than I already was. Then I pushed him back into his seat, which then he fell over and landed on his ass in the middle of the room. 

Needless to say, I did get a suspension for a week and when I came back no one wanted to talk to me. Except for this one little Latina girl who said that it was the coolest thing she’d ever seen. Liz and I had been pretty much inseparable from that moment until my parents decided to move across the country. Now we were separated by roughly over 3000 miles or so. 

As I’m finishing up my last stuffed pepper, Liz shouts something in Spanish. Despite the amount of time we spent together I never quite got the hang of translating it when she spoke as fast as she did. She told me that she had to go. We said our goodbyes and then the call window minimized to only show me. I sighed and stood to start cleaning up my mess. 

I miss California.


	4. Slut Like You

School was so boring for me that I basically spent it all on autopilot. My days were filled with going to my locker, hearing the girls talk gossip, ignoring them, going to classes, go to lunch, then back to classes and then go home. The only time I wasn’t on autopilot and had time to myself was on the weekends. 

But not this weekend. Apparently in a week, Jake was going to be throwing a huge Halloween party for the entire class. Brooke and Chloe wanted to go costume shopping and brought me along no matter how much I insisted I already had a costume. While we went from store to store I couldn’t help but wonder they noticed how ridiculous it was for them to constantly gossip about girls for ‘slutty’ things when Brooke was trying to find an already ‘sexy’ costume a size too small so it would look even tighter than originally intended. We were about to leave, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, when suddenly. 

“Olive, you didn’t get a costume,” Chloe pointed out. I sighed.   
“I already told you,” I repeated. “I have one already.”  
“How could you already have one we just found out about this party yesterday.   
“I wore it to-“ I paused. _Don’t say Comic-Con._ “A friend’s party last year.”  
“You’re gonna wear the same costume twice?” Chloe asked scandalized. I shrugged. “No one here has seen it, you guys didn’t know me last year,” I explained. 

I wasn’t gonna tell them that I had spent months putting it together myself working hard on the stitching and sewing and finding the fabric and accessories that worked best. Part of me didn’t think they’d get the idea that I cosplayed at comic con this past summer just before I moved. The blood, sweat, tears, time and money I put into that costume I would be damned if I was only going to wear it once. 

The two girls looked at me then each other and shrugged. I guess they thought I made a good point. We continued walking around, these two wanted to go into every store, We walked into one and ran into the Tall Guy from school. 

“Jerry?” Chloe asked.   
“Uhh Jeremy, actually..” He said. I tuned them out while looking at some clothes on a rack. Then I heard Jeremy follow up with “Looking pretty sexy, Brooke.” 

There it was my cue to get out of there. I quietly and quickly backed out of the store and walked through the mall. I saw a sign for Spencer and head in there. Chloe and Brooke would never come in here, so I figured it would be a good place to hide for a minute or two. 

When I walked in and looked at the shirts I noticed Jeremy’s friend, the one who wore that red hoodie, standing at the check out counter. The Cashier seemed very bored and vaguely uninterested. They talked for a few minutes before the cashier gave him something and he started to leave the store. He was carrying a case of Crystal Pepsi. He almost caught me staring again but before he could I got very interested in a Star Wars shirt.

For good measure, I waited five minutes before I left the store and headed to the mall entrance. Having successfully ditched my ‘friends’ and by extension my ride I called my dad to pick me up. I spent the whole night looking through boxes to find every piece of my costume. In the end, the only thing that I couldn’t find was the wig.


	5. Summer Hair = Forever Young

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being unable to find the wig to her costume Oliver takes what some would consider a drastic measure.

“Hey, can I borrow one of the cars today?” I asked as Dad placed some scrambled eggs and toast down on my plate.  
“What for?” Mom questioned. I gestured at my long dirty blonde hair.  
“I wanna get a haircut,” I said, reaching for a hash brown patty. “Try something new, y’know?”  
“And this will be after school?” Dad asked. I nodded in response as I began to scarf down my breakfast. Dad always made the best big breakfasts on the days they didn’t have to work super early. “I’m fine with it then.”   
“Good, now I can actually enjoy this breakfast and not worry about the Bus,” I smiled. 

————————

“Hey, Oli- Oh MY GOD!” Liz said. I had just answered her FaceTime call and sat down. “What?! Is that your hair?”  
“Does it look dumb?” I asked, my hand instinctively reaching for the back of my now short freshly cut hair. It felt so different and strange, but also, fitting?

I’d gotten my hair cut short flipped it to the side and had these longer pieces just in front of my ears mocking, what would be I guess sideburns on a guy. 

“No way! It looks cool!” Liz said as she tilted her said. “It fits you, which is weird to think cause you’ve had long hair the whole time I’ve known you.” 

I told Liz all about Jake’s party and my costume and she understood why I got the haircut. She was however surprised to hear I was going with Chloe, Brooke and, Jenna.

“Wait I thought they were still getting your name wrong?” She asked I nodded. “Oliver, why even bother?”  
“I dunno,” I shrugged. “High school sucks when you’ve got no one and I don’t know anybody else.”“But you deserve better friends.”  
“That’s why I have you,” I half-joked. Liz stared at me with a sad look on her face.  
“Yeah but, you deserve someone who can be there with you,” she said. “Y’know in New Jersey.” 

I didn’t know what else to say. 

She was right.


	6. It's Halloween!

My parents were surprised when they saw my new haircut. They both said that it looked awesome but they were surprised at such a drastic change. I got a text from Chloe announcing that she and Brooke would be stopping by to pick me up before Jake’s party. I spent a while up in my bathroom right off my bedroom. I showered and made sure my hair was just right before putting on my binder and my costume. I had to do a little digging to find my sword and shield in one of the boxes. 

I slipped on my boots and looked at myself in my floor length mirror. The costume was just as perfect as I remembered. I heard my phone buzz from its spot on my nightstand. I picked up my sword and shield and put them on my back. Picking up my phone I noticed there was another text from Chloe saying that she and Brooke were in my driveway. I stuffed my phone into the little pouch on my belt and left my room.

“By mom! By dad!” I yelled stomping down the stairs two at a time.  
“Be safe!” My dad yelled back barely acknowledging that I was leaving.  
“Be back before sunrise!” Mom joked.  
“Shouldn’t do that Ma! I’m gonna hold you to that offer!” I laughed.

I stepped outside and down my front steps, tossed my sword and shield in the back seat of Brooke’s car and hopped in. Brooke immediately starts driving off towards Jakes, Chloe however just stared at me from the passenger seat. 

“Olivia, what the hell are you dressed as?” She asked confused.  
“Why aren’t you wearing something sexy?” Brooke asked glancing at me in the rearview mirror.  
“Everyone’s gonna think you’re a guy!” Chloe yelled. I rolled my eyes.  
“Maybe then people will get my name right,” I said turning my head to look out the window.  
“Oh my god is that your real hair?!” She asked.  
“Yeah, I think I lost the wig in the move so I got it cut.”  
“You… cut your hair? For a Halloween costume party?” Chloe asked. I nodded. “Liv, you’re so weird.” 

I was silent the rest of the drive. We pulled up to Jakes and I hopped out of the car taking a second to get my accessories while the other two didn’t even bother to wait for me. When I walked in and saw Jake I didn’t even bother saying hello. 

“I need a drink.” 

————————

Three drinks in and I was finally able to talk to some people. I ran into Christine, the girl from the play that Jake was trying to impress and spent some time talking to her. She was dressed as a renaissance princess, and she was really interested in my costume, despite not knowing who I was dressed as. 

“So wait, you made that yourself?” She asked. I shrugged.  
“I mean obviously not the sword or the shield but the rest yeah.”  
“You should totally help make costumes for the play! I can ask Mr. Reyes next rehearsal!” She said excitedly. I smiled and let out a chuckle.  
“I mean sure, if he’s cool with it I don’t might helping, but if he’s got enough hands on deck I wouldn’t mind just making something special for you,” I said. 

Christine smiled back and kept thanking me. We quickly exchanged numbers and she promised to text me and let me know Reyes’ response. At some point, I stumbled off to see if anyone else was around. While looking around at one point I saw Jenna and Chloe muttering near one of the rooms, then shortly after Jenna had lead Jeremy to it. I shrugged it off until I saw Brooke downstairs. _Weird, I thought he liked Brooke._

While I was walking around, someone randomly tapped my shoulder. I jumped, as I grabbed my sword and unsheathed it.

“Shit, Rich! You can’t sneak up on people! You’re lucky this isn’t even sharp and all I can do is hit you with it!” I yelled.  
“Do you have any Mountain Dew Red?” He asked desperately.  
“I don’t think anyone has that. This isn’t the 90’s,” I said sheathing my sword. Rich already moved on from me continuing to ask other nearby people. 

I leaned against a wall looking at the large living room at everyone around. This party was boring. No one even knew who I was dressed as and so many people asked if I was ‘Orlando Bloom from that nerd movie.’ I tried to make my way around the party to find Chloe and Brooke maybe one of them would be willing to give me a ride home. Hell, I’d even carpool with Jenna. 

It was too tedious of a task, my so-called friends appeared to be nowhere. I stepped outside into the chill New Jersey air and tried calling them both on my phone. No answer… No answer again. 

Mother fuckers. 

I looked down the driveway, surely with directions from google maps I could walk home right? I looked back down at my phone only to see 10% sitting next to my battery. 

“Fuck.” I sighed. Suddenly, someone bumped into me from behind. I groaned as I steadied myself.  
“Sorry man, whoa,” a voice said. “Are you dressed as Link from Legend of Zelda?”  
“Uhh, yeah,” I turned around and was face to face with Jeremy’s friend. The red hoodie-wearing boy from school. I could help but smile. “You’re actually the first person to get it right.” 

We stared at each other for a few seconds with dumb smiles on our faces. I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes looked slightly red and puffy. I swallowed hard. 

“Uh... Sorry, you’re probably trying to get somewhere,” I said sidestepping out of the way.  
“Yeah!” He exclaimed after a second like he’d forgotten. He walked down the steps reaching the driveway. 

“Actually um... are you... are you leaving?” I asked. The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. He stopped and turned to look back at me. That's when it finally clicked to me that He wasn’t wearing his signature hoodie. “I need to get outta here, and my rides kind of.. ditched me. Could I… tag along with you?” 

“Uhh.. sh-sure!” He seemed to be caught off guard. I beamed and hurried down the steps to catch up to him. I followed him down the street to a P.T Cruiser. Taking off my sword and shield, I tossed them into his back seat before climbing into the passenger side.


	7. Stuck to You

“You’re that new girl right?” He asked. I chuckled.   
“As much as I can be after two months of school,” I shrugged. “I’m Oliver by the way. Oliver Barnes.”  
“Michael Mell,” He introduced. I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that I finally knew his name.   
“You some sort of Marvel Super Hero or something?” I joked. Michael laughed, I made him laugh!

“I don’t really know why they went for alliteration with my name.”  
“They were preparing you for your future superhero destiny,” I continued. We were driving down the road and stopped talking. I didn’t feel like I needed to fill the silence but, I just wanted to keep talking to him. I tried to rack my brain for anything to say. “Where’s your hoodie?”  
“My what?” He asked.   
“Your red hoodie, I just, always see you wearing it around at school,” I pointed out. He was currently wearing a dark blue shirt with the word ‘CREEPS’ written across it. The C on the right arm and the S on the left. Michael made a face, but it was hard to read between the street lamps. 

“Oh well uh… I wasn’t really invited to the party so I was wearing a costume so no one would recognize me.” He said. I nodded along to his explanation.   
“I mean, I wasn’t so much invited as dragged along,” I said. “You really think they would’ve kicked you out?” 

Michael shrugged and I didn’t feel like I should press it. I went to stare out the window and realized that I was pretty sure we weren’t heading in the direction of my house. Did he even ask for my address?

“What do you mean _you_ weren’t invited?” He asked. “Don’t you hang out with Chloe and Jenna and Brooke? They get invited everywhere. I see you eating lunch with Jake all the time too why wouldn’t he invite you?”   
“Uhh, does hang out in this instance mean that we exist simultaneously in the same vicinity? Because then yeah, we do. But like, I dunno… I don’t exactly have anything in common with them.” 

Michael nodded in response showing that he understood what I was talking about. I asked him where we were driving. 

“Oh shit right!” He said. “I was gonna go to 7-11 but I can take you home first if you want.”   
“No, it’s okay,” I shook my head. “My mom did technically say I could stay out till sunrise.”

She had sort of been joking about it, but I did say I would take her up on it. Michael simply nodded, turned up the radio and kept driving to 7-11. 

———————————

The door chimed as we walked in. Michael walked over to the snack isle, without having to even look he picked up a bag of potato chips before standing in line for the counter. I followed and stood by him as we waited for a people ahead to pay for gas or snacks. Should I have waited in the car? I remembered I left my wallet at home, not thinking I would need cash for anything at Jake’s party. I felt Michael nudge me with his elbow. 

“What flavor slush?” He asked. I opened my mouth glancing for a second at the flavors available.  
“I don’t have money with me,” I told him.   
“I’ll buy it for you?” He said confused, holding up the chips. “I figured we should get something in you other than alcohol.” 

I raised my eyebrows before nodding. He had a good point, I was a little drunk. And had skipped dinner. We reached the front of the line and he asked for a Cherry slushy for himself and I got my favorite, blue raspberry. Paying for our drinks, chips and heading back out to his car, and climbed in. 

“Thanks,” I smiled. Michael just nodded in response as he set both of our slushies in the cup holders and opened the bag of chips, offering them to me before he grabbed his own. “So, if you don’t mind me asking. Why did you sneak into Jake’s party?”

His demeanor changed, seeming more solemn. He sighed.

“My best friend's.. he uh... well he’s been hanging out with Brooke and the rest of the cool crowd a lot lately. Ignoring me while in the process,” He stammered out. I nodded in response.   
“Well, that’s sweet that you still care about him and wanna see him,” I sipped my slush.   
“Yeah well, he called me a ‘fucking loser’ and ditched me,” Michael shrugged. I bit my lip as I looked over at him. 

“I would say fuck him you deserve a better friend but… I know it’s easier said than done,” I said.

Michael nodded as he grabbed the bag of chips and pulled out a handful for himself. We spent the next few hours just sitting in his car in the dark, talking. It was probably the most I’d said to anyone in months, other than Liz of course. Talking to Michael was so easy. He told me all about him and Jeremy, his friend who ditched him. I talked about my parents, Liz, and the move from L.A. It was very therapeutic to talk to someone, other than Liz, about it all. We talked long after our chips and slushies were gone. Before we knew it, three in the morning rolled around, and we figured we had to stop loitering in the 7-11 parking lot. 

“I should probably be getting home,” I sighed. Michael nodded and I gave him my address. 

As we were heading to my house we had to pull over twice for firetrucks. Eventually, though, we made it to my place and Michael quietly parked in the driveway. He looked up at my house and nodded. 

“Nice place,” he said. I nodded as I opened the door turning on the inside lights.   
“One day you can see how nice the inside looks too,” I told him. I looked at the ground and miraculously found a sharpie. Grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand off the steering wheel

“Wha-?!” Michale said as I jotted down my number on his palm. As I finished, I looked up at him releasing his hand.   
“Text me sometime,” I said. He nodded, seemingly stunned by the interaction. I smiled as I grabbed my things from the back seat and made my way up the porch. Pausing to say goodbye to him before I walked in the door. 

I changed out of my Link costume and finally got to take off the binder and slip into comfortable PJs before drifting off to sleep.


	8. Lullabye

I woke up early hearing my parents making a bunch of noise downstairs. It was unlike them, usually, they knew how to be quiet. I rolled over and picked up my phone which was buzzing against the mattress. Groaning as the bright screen shined in my face I looked at the text messages I missed. 

 

**Unknown #  
—> ** _Hey Oliver! It’s Christine text me back so I know you’ve got my number._

**Unknown #**   
**— >** _O. Call me when you get this.— > It’s Michael I need to tell you something important. _

_I called his number, putting my phone on speaker and laying it on my pillow beside me. He picked up on the second ring._

“Hello? Oliver?”  
“It’s Ol- Oh.. wow.. you actually called me Oliver?” I asked surprised even in my currently dazed state.   
“That's your name why wouldn’t- Never mind,” He said. I sighed snuggling into my bed some more. “I-I dunno how to say this.”  
“Just spit it out Michael,” I told him.   
“Jake’s house… it-it burned down,” he said, his voice shaking. Suddenly, I was wide awake and sitting upright in my bed.   
“Oh my god…” I muttered. Firetrucks. Michael continued speaking. 

“Yeah, I don’t even know who got out. So far all I’ve heard is that Jake and Rich are both in the hospital…” He said. “But I don’t…”“Jeremy?”  
“He’s not answering his phone.” 

I immediately demanded Michael give me Jeremy’s number. After he recited it I quickly typed it out and told him I would call him back in a minute. Taking my phone off speaker I tapped the number and called it putting my phone to my ear. A Groggy voice picked up on the other end.   
“Is this Jeremy Heere?” I asked.“Yeah who’s this?”  
“Oliver, I’m friends with- I was at Jake’s party last night,” I explained what Michael had told me about the fire and didn’t get around to mentioning him by name. “I heard from someone who’s worried about you.”  
“Brooke?”   
“No.”  
“Chloe?”  
“No, it was-“  
“Michael.” The line was quiet for a moment. I couldn’t even hear Jeremy breathing it was so silent. 

“You there?” I asked.   
“Was he bothering you?” He questioned me simultaneously.  
“No?” Why is he being a dick? Aren’t they friends? “We hung out last night and neither of us knows-“  
“Only Jake and Rich were hurt, everyone else is fine.” He said. My eyebrows strung together in confusion. Just as I started asking how he knew he was already responding. “People actually talk to me. And by the way, tell Michael to leave me alone.” 

The line went dead. I had had a mind to call him back and tear him a new one for being so rude, but I decided on calling Michael. I explained to him what Jeremy said minus the stuff from the very end of the conversation. 

“He’s kind of a dick? He asked if you were bothering me?” I said. “Like what the hell why would I have tried to call him if that was the case?”  
“He’s just…going through some stuff right now,” Michael muttered. We were quiet for a few seconds before he yawned.   
“Hey.. this might be weird but would you mind saying on the phone?” I asked. “Just till I like, fall back asleep?”  
“Sure… doesn’t sound weird at all.”  
“And I just wanted to say thanks. Y’know for taking me with you last night. Chloe and Brooke might have already been gone by then and if I hadn’t run into you-“  
“Firstly, I ran into you, and secondly, don’t do that. Don’t think about the what if. You’re here, you’re fine. We both are.” He said. “We’re safe, home in our own beds.” 

Michael spent a few more minutes just talking and calming me down. He spoke very softly and soothingly. Once I was calmer he moved on to other topics, and as I felt my eyelids getting heavier he started talking about school. 

“Did I tell you last night?” I yawned, punctuating my question. “That we have chemistry?”  
“Wh-what?” I could practically hear him blushing through the phone.   
“The class… we’re in it together.”  
“Oh… right,” he said. I couldn’t make sense if he was disappointed or tired.  
“Mmhm, I just never talked to you… I don’t really talk to anyone there really.” I paused. No longer able to keep my eyes open.   
“Oliver?” Michael whispered, probably just as tired as me. “Good night.”  
“Night Michael.”


	9. Lose It

Returning to school on Monday was terrible. Jake’s party had been huge and the new’s that his house had burned down spread, well like fire. Everyone who had been there or heard about Jake and Rich was wearing black. As I walked down the hall to my locker I passed by Rich’s it was decorated with flowers and pictures. It was weird like the entire school was acting like he died, but he was just in the hospital. I stopped at my locker, dropping my bag at my feet and worked on the combination to get in. While I was in the middle of my concentration, I was almost knocked over by someone who hugged me with the full force of their body. 

“OLIVE OH MY GOD!” Chloe yelled. “We didn’t see you after the party oh my god, we were all so worried. Where did you go?”  
“Worried people tend to check up on those they’re concerned about, Chloe,” I said tossing her hands off my shoulders. 

Chloe looked taken aback. I just opened my locker and started moving the books I needed in my bag. Brooke and Jenna came over to stand by Chloe, and as always, started telling each other tales. 

“I heard he did it because he’s gay.”  
“I heard he’s dead.”  
“I heard he’s just in the hospital.” 

“I heard that he’s got severe burns and that like his face totally melted off.” “Oh my god!” I yelled. Tossing all of my textbooks on the floor resulting in a loud bang. “Do you three ever get tired of hearing your own voices? Aren’t you guys supposed to be friends with Rich? Haven’t any of you tried calling or maybe visiting him? No, of course, you haven’t because why would you actually try to be a friend to someone having a hard time when you could just spread a dozen rumors instead!” I slammed my locker shut and picked up my books and bag. I turned on my heel and started storming away. Then I heard Chloe call out. 

“Olivia where are you going?” 

I stopped dead in my tracks, let out a deep breathe. I know better. I learned not to do this back in second grade. And yet… 

I dropped my books and my bag in the middle of the hallway. I turned my heel and without even thinking I marched right back over to Chloe, shoving her up against the locker, my hands gripped tightly onto her shirt. 

“It’s Oliver. If I ever hear you call me anything but Oliver… with an R.. I will make the rest of your days in high school a living hell,” I said in the quietest calmest voice I could muster. Chloe looked pale. I let go of her and turned to look at Jenna and Brooke, speaking normally again. “Don’t fucking talk to me anymore.” 

And with that, I walked back down the hall picking up my things on the way. As I walked off I heard Chloe yell once again. 

“She’s fucking crazy!” 

———————

“Michael Mell! My main man!” I smiled as I walked up to his locker. As soon as I said his name he looked over at me, actually doing a double take. Once he noticed it was me he was very surprised. 

“You’re actually talking to me at school?” He asked.  
“Why wouldn’t I?” I tilted my head to the side while looking at him. He shrugged, while still looking up and down the hallway and not directly at me.   
“I wasn’t sure your friends, would be cool with you acknowledging me,” He said, reaching into his locker still avoiding to look at me. I ducked underneath his arm and stood between him and his locker, which forced him to look at me.   
“They don’t control me, the only reason they ever talked to me was that I had a locker by Chloe. And if I have to go back to that locker, I’m going to lose my goddamn mind and assault her again. So can I put my books in yours?”  
“Only if you explain?” Michael asked. I sighed and brought him up to speed on everything that had happened a few minutes ago. He found it mildly amusing, and like me was astounded that someone couldn’t get my very simple name right. I put the stuff that I didn’t need until after lunch in his locker and shut it. “Y’know if Jenna was there you’re gonna need more than a new locker. Half the school probably has at least… three different stories that are even worse than what actually happened.”

I hit my head softly against the door of his locker. Our locker, I guess, since we were sharing it. He had a good point. I turned around, my back leaning against the other lockers lining the hallway, sighing. 

“I have you though, right?” I asked.


	10. Green Day

“Your leaning on me is not helping me study,” I pointed out.  
“Then pick up a paddle and join me,” Michael suggested. I glanced at the tv screen. Apocalypse of the Damned flashed on the screen, he’d died too many times and got sent back to the start screen. I shook my head.  
“I already told you, I’m not replacing Jeremy as your Player 2. When I asked if we could hang out and study at your place I actually meant… school work,” I said. I turned my attention back to my notes. “Not your high score.” 

I could feel him look over at me and stare down at my notes. 

“Y’know there’s such a thing as being too prepared,” He told me. “You’ve been studying non-stop for three hours. You need to relax. You’re looking at classes that I don’t even have!”  
“Yeah well, I’d rather stress out over studying and making sure that I know that I know what I know and not stress over the actual test when it gets placed in front of me.”  
“I don’t even know what you just said… but if you’re stressed,” he shrugged. “We could get stoned.” 

“What?” I asked looking up at him. I watched as he got up from the couch and walked over to his bed. After rummaging around underneath he pulled out an old school tin lunch box with Pac Man on it. My eyebrows strung together as his brought it back over to the couch and opened it. “You keep your weed in a Pac man lunch box?”  
“Shut up,” He chuckled. I couldn’t help but smile back, he was infectious. “It’s your call though we don’t have to get high.” 

“I’m from California why do you say that as if I called it the Devil’s Lettuce or something?” I laughed.  
“So you want to?”  
“I.. s- sure.” 

I was from Cali, sure. Weed was legal there, yes, I knew people who smoked it before but I’d never personally tried it before. In any form, no one had offered it to me, but I did only have one friend. I turned my attention back to my notes while Michael rolled a joint. He seemed to know what he was doing, and I trusted him. Suddenly he tapped my shoulder. 

“Have you ever smoked before?” He asked. I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. He just smiled. “It’s fine, we can share a joint.” 

I watched as he put the joint between his lips and lit it. It would be a lie if I said it wasn’t a little mesmerizing to watch as he slowly inhaled and then effortlessly exhaled a puff of white wispy smoke. He’d turned his head to the side slightly so he wouldn’t be blowing it right into my face, he took a second hit, then after a second, he held the joint out to me. I hesitated, staring at it for a second. 

“Do you want me to walk you through it?” He asked.  
“It’s not rocket science I think I got it,” I said. 

I then took a hit myself. It was a bit larger than I had meant to take and I ended up coughing it back out after a moment of holding it. It didn’t have much of a taste other than smoke, but it felt warm all inside me. Michael was smiling at me from his spot on the couch. “What?” I asked quietly, I could feel my stomach doing flips. He shrugged.  
“Just amusing to watch first-timers,” he said.  
“Oh my god- fuck off,” I laughed, he chuckled along with me. When I brought the joint back up to my lips he reached for my wrist to stop me.  
“You should probably wait for the high to start,” he explained. “being super stoned your first time isn’t fun.” 

I just nodded and handed him back the joint. Michael just simply placed it in an ashtray on the table and we began to wait. 

—————————

Michael and I were laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Our heads met roughly in the middle of his mattress, my feet hung off the end and his he rested on top of the headboard. He had opened one of the windows at the top of the wall by his bed, we needed to let the smoke out, after all, the chilly New Jersey air making its way through engulfing every corner of the room.

“So is this like…. All you do?” I asked as I looked up at the ceiling. “Y’know get stoned and look up?” “We used to get stoned and play video games, or watch old movies,” Michael explained. I just nodded along to his voice. “I meant to ask you how are you feeling?” “Good… like really good. Little hungry but like… It’s good.” I said. I rolled to my side to look at him, snuggled into the bed and closed my eyes. The cold was getting to me, I could feel myself lightly shiver.  
“Oliver?” “Hm?” “Are you cold?” Michael asked. I reluctantly admitted that I was. 

I felt Michael’s weight lift off the bed beside me. Opening my eyes I saw him pulling his red hoodie over his head. He held it out to me, I just stared at him as I sat up, my stoned brain not understanding that he wanted me to take it. He pushed it into my hands telling me it would be warm, and it finally clicked in my mind. I slipped the sweater on and instantly felt cozier. Maybe because of residual body heat, maybe because it was already two sizes too big for Michael so I was basically swimming in it. Aside from Halloween, I had really never seen Michael without this sweater. He was wearing a black tee shirt underneath it and while I was staring at him in a daze I noticed something. 

“What’s that on your arm?” I asked. He looked down.  
“It’s a Pac-man tattoo.”

I scooted closer to where he sat, reached out and gently traced his tattoo with my fingers. His skin was soft and warm.  
“When did you get it?”

“Earlier this year, Jeremy and I both did,” He explained. “He has it on his inner bicep though.”  
“I don’t mean to be rude… or like assume things,” I started, still ghosting my fingers up and down the tattoo on his forearm. How had I never noticed this before? Is it covered by his sweater? “But were you and Jeremy like… boyfriends? Or something?”  
Michael turned red, I immediately felt guilty for prying at all. 

“No, we’ve just really been friends since pre-school. We’re practically brothers,” He said, still looking nervous. I nodded as he continued. “I uh… I do though… um, like boys I mean.”  
“Oh,” I said. I stopped stroking his arm. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be weird.” 

“Oliver,” He said. “I mean that I’m Bisexual.”  
“Oh! That’s great!” I smiled. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. “I uh… I’m actually ace… sexual-asexual.”  
“Yeah? That’s awesome,” he said. His face was a lot closer to mine now. I raised an eyebrow.  
“I… I’m used to that usually going the other way,” I said. 

He nodded claiming the same as he leaned his forehead against mine gently. Our eyes closed and we sat there in silence. A comfortable silence where I felt like I could stay in that moment forever. I wanted to remember everything about this moment, the smell of Michael and his room, the chilly autumn air against my nose, the softness of his sweater and the most important… the warmth of Michael’s breath against my face.

“Hey, Oliver?” Michael said in a barely audible whisper. “I’m really glad we met at Jake’s Halloween Party.”  
“So am I, Michael.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you're enjoying the story! I know a lot of the fandom has headcanoned Michael as gay and if that's your thing my apologies, but I wanted this to be a sort of middle ground between the book (where he's straight) and the musical (where his sexuality is ambiguous). Plus Oliver is a girl, or depending on how you read the story she could be read as Non-Binary? At least that's mainly how I have tried to write her. 
> 
> Anyway enough of me rambling I was very nervous to post this story cause I wasn't sure how it would be received so I hope you guys still like the story.


	11. I Love Play Rehearsal

Christine and I were shopping for fabric. Mr Reyes had given me the okay to do as many costumes for the play as I wanted, but seeing as aside from Christine the only members of the play were Chloe, Brooke, Jenna, and various others… I decided to just make Christine’s costume. We walked around a pretty huge fabric store looking at everything they had as we talked. 

“So how’s the play going?” I asked. I hadn’t been to any of the rehearsals because I didn’t wanna deal with Chloe or any of them.“It’s alright. It’s not the play I had hoped to do this year but…” She shrugged instead of finishing her thought. I nodded understandingly. “Jakes back so that’s… cool, I guess? I’m not really sure how I feel about it. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad he’s okay. I just… don’t know.”   
“Speaking of Jake, where were you when the house caught fire?” I asked.   
“Oh, I got a ride from Jeremy, we must have left like, only a couple of minutes before the fire, we saw fire trucks on our way to my house, I can’t believe how close we were to being there.” 

“Yeah, we’re both crazy lucky I guess. Chloe and Brooke had ditched me. Aside from you and Michael, I don’t think anyone at this school really cares about me, so if I hadn’t found another ride…” 

I trailed off, not really wanting to think about it. Christine, of course, in the same position as me that night understood without needing to go into it. Instead, she decided to change the subject. 

“How are you liking Metuchen?” She smiled. I smiled back at her and shrugged. I looked down at some fabric in a bin.   
“It’s pretty good, It’s cold a fuck though and I fear I might not survive the winter. But it’s nice, I’ve got good friends now. School is… well, school but it’d be that no matter where I was,” I said. “I do miss California though, my whole life was there.”  
“You think you might go back?” She asked. “Like for College?” 

I hadn’t really thought much about college. I definitely could find something to study out there, and my parents both always told me they would help pay for wherever I wanted to go, I couldn’t see them backing out just because I wanted to move home. I simply told Christine I’d never given it much thought before. She immediately launched into raving about how ever since ninth grade she’d dreamt of going to college in New York, moving there, and appearing in plays both on and off Broadway. It was so good to listen to her. 

Christine was a passionate person, about a lot of things really, but the most important thing to her was Theatre. You could tell by the way her eyes lit up when she spoke about it. She would get bouncing on the balls of her feet excited. Just talking theatre with someone made her like a child in a candy store. I couldn’t even think of a single thing I was that passionate about. 

“What do you think of these fabrics?” I asked, showing her the basket. She reached in to feel the materials I had picked out. She pulled out a velvety material and then another sort of silky one. She held them both up. 

“I like both of these,” she said. I nodded my head. I could do something with that, get a few extra things in my own time. She hugged me. “Thank you so much, Oliver, ever since Mr. Reyes added the whole Zombie thing and changed a bunch of stuff I was kinda bummed out about the play but working with you and having you actually value my opinion makes me look forward to it just a bit more.”

I felt honored and touched that Christine was happier about the play due to working with me. I promised her I would draw something up and send it to her before getting started. We paid for the fabrics, and I took her measurements. It was time to get to work.


	12. And That's What You Missed On Glee

I sat in the cafeteria beside Michael. We were joking around and I stole some of his fries. We were having a good time until suddenly he got quiet and looked down at his shoes. As soon as I was going to ask what was going on I heard a familiar voice. 

“Hey Olive.” I turned to see Jake. He stood on the other side of the table, a crutch under each arm and a cast on his right leg. I took a bite of the last fry I stole as I looked at him. 

“Hey Jack,” I said before turning my attention back to Michael.  
“Dude, it’s Jake… are you okay? Why aren’t you sitting with us? You don’t need to sit with this loser and pick at scraps we ordered pizza,” he said. I saw Michael pull his sleeves down on his sweater. I turned back to look at Jake, a rage already kindling inside me.  
“Look, John, I’m not sitting with you because well... frankly I don’t like you guys. I enjoy my friend, Michael’s company, and his scraps. So, how about you run back along to your pizza instead of bothering us, hm?” I asked. I slipped my hand into Michael’s under the table and gave it a squeeze. 

“Why do you keep doing that? You know my name is Jake.” “Oh.. I was just doing the same thing you were doing to me. I thought misnaming each other was like our little joke,” I said. Jake just looked confused. “My name isn’t Olive.”  
“Whatever, Olivia, just come back to the table with your actual friends,” Jake repeated. I did think about giving him another chance to call me by the right name but after this long, he didn’t deserve one. I gave Michael’s hand another squeeze and muttered sorry. 

I stood up grabbing Michael’s slushie and walked across the table top to stand on the bench seat in front of Jake. In a quick fluid moment, I pulled off the lid and dumped what was left over the top of Jake’s head. 

“For the last goddamn time, my name is Oliver you fucking dolt!” I yelled. The whole Cafeteria was staring at us. “Do I need to spell it out for you? O-L-I- V-E and fucking R! And also Michael is my goddamn friend, unlike you, if I hear you call him a loser again I’ll give you another goddamn cast. Alright? So fuck off.” 

Before I could deliver another verbal blow I felt an arm around my waist pulling me down off the bench. The cafeteria is quiet, the entire school probably heard what I had said. I simply followed while Michael lead me out of the cafeteria and outside. 

_What the fuck did I just do?_

————————————

I sat beside a now damp Jake Dillinger, we were both across a wooden desk where Principle Vizzini sat. Some dumb kids who couldn’t keep their mouth shut were talking about the incident from the cafeteria, a teacher heard and of course they told the Principle. Needless to say, we were both called in so he could get to the bottom of the situation. 

Mr. Vizzini was leaning back in his chair stroking his chin as Jake relayed the story from his perspective. Once Jake finished talking his laid his eyes on me. 

“Do you have anything to add Ms. Barnes?” He asked. I shook my head.  
“No, I’d say that Jackson- oh I’m sorry, Jake, got it all,” I agreed. “Other than the fact that he’s been calling me by the wrong name for nearly five months, and called my friend a loser, and I told him to leave us alone but he continued to bother us.” 

Jake opened his mouth to protest but before he could get a word it I snapped at him. Before I realized we were yelling at each other in a full-fledged argument. It took Mr. Vizzini a moment to calm us down. I crossed my arms and sunk into the chair, I knew this wouldn’t go well for me. I’d played this game before. 

“Ms. Barnes, you are aware we have a zero tolerance for bullying, it’s for this reason that I think it best that you be suspended for the rest of the week. Three days,” he said. I immediately sat back up.  
“What?! Did you miss me saying that he was the one who walked up to us? And called both of us names? TO. OUR. FACES!? How am I the bully?!”  
“Ms. Barens, I could choose to expel you but instead I am giving you the benefit of the doubt seeing as this is the first time you’ve ever been brought to my office. I’m hoping that by suspending you I will help you learn your lesson,” Mr. Vizzini said. I sighed crossing my arms and falling back against the chair. Next, he asked if I had a ride home, the whole time Jake just sat there in silence, which hopefully solidified for him that we’re not friends.  
“Yeah... I can get one.” “Wonderful! I will also be calling your parents later too, to fill them in.”  
“Of course, sir.”

 

After we were dismissed I stormed out of the office, wanting to scream both at Jake and in general. I headed down the hallway when I heard a voice. 

“Oliver!” 

I turned around to see Michael standing up from a chair placed just outside the office. We just stared at each other for a moment. He does have study hall this period…

“Can we go for a drive?” 

———————————

“What!?” Michael yelled. We were sat outside 7-11. I nodded and sipped at my blue slushie, I had to buy him one after what I did today.  
“Yup,” I sighed. “Some dumbass kid must’ve squealed, and then through the grapevine, I ended up looking worse.”  
“That’s so stupid! He was bothering us. Like, I don’t think you should’ve slushied him but you told him to leave us alone,” Michael rambled. I smile, my straw still between my teeth. “What if I tell Mr. Vizzini how you were just sticking up for me?”  
“I already told him,” I said defeated. I hopped up to my feet and stuck my hand out for Michael to take. Helping him to his feet I bounced gently trying to warm myself up. “You should probably take me home. I'm sure my parents are gonna be pissed enough to hear I was suspended for a few days.” 

Michael looked at me sadly, but we both climbing into the car. I leaned my head against the window as he started the car. We were quiet as he started to drive until I decided to break the silence. 

“We can still hang out after school every day,” I smiled. “Provided my parents don’t ground me.”“Do you think they would?”  
“Not sure… I haven’t been in this much trouble since first grade.”


	13. Walking the Wire

Both my parents were home by the time Michale and I walked in. It was quiet, but they were hard to miss because they were sat at the breakfast bar. My mom was sitting with her hands clasped at the bar, My dad stood behind her his hand on one of her shoulders. I took a deep nervous breath and slowly stepped into the kitchen. 

“I take it Mr. Vizzini called?” I asked sheepishly. My mom turned her head looking from me to Michael and back to me.   
“Oliver, we need to talk to you about this privately,” she said. I tugged at Michael’s sleeve and we both stepped towards the breakfast bar.   
“Actually um… This is my friend Michael, he was with me in the cafeteria and I wanna have him here to help me explain.”   
“Go on, hon,” Dad encouraged. Michael and I shared a nervous look before I sighed. 

“Okay well… when the school year first started there were these three girls…” 

————————————

“Anyway, so today Jake came over and started calling me by other names.”“And he called me a loser,” Michael interjected.   
“Yeah! And he insinuated that Michael wasn’t my friend, and I told him to leave us alone and that if he didn’t he’d regret it,” I continued. “And thats when she poured my slushie on his head,” Michael finished. 

My parents were both quiet while we explained everything that had happened. Of course, we glossed over certain things, like how I drank at Jake’s party, how late we stayed out and how I attacked Chloe too. We really just focused on how we’d met at the party and anything that directly happened at school. Just the things that were necessary to understand how and why everything went down the way it did. My mom simply blinked as she unfolded her hand and placed them flat on the counter top. 

“Well, I guess you were defending your friend and yourself,” Dad smiled.   
“You’re not grounded,” Mom stated. I beamed. “But… you do have to apologize to Jake. You can’t solve all your problems with physical altercations. You remember Max?”  
“Yeah okay, so I can think of what I’m gonna say and apologize to him maybe tomorrow?” I asked. My parents nodded. “Sweet, Michael and I are going to hang out upstairs.”

Before they could say anything more I was already tugging Michael along. 

“DOOR STAYS OPEN, OLLIE!” My mom yelled. I stopped in my tracks have way up the stairs feeling both mortified and skived out.   
“DON’T BE GROSS, MOM!” I hollered back. “I was gonna keep it open.” 

Michael was still laughing even by the time I lead him to the end of the hall and into my room. I stared at him, waiting for him to explain. 

“Ollie?” He asked. I could feel my face heat up.  
“Shut up,” I muttered.   
“No, no… I think it’s cute, honest,” he said.  
“Wanna end up like Jake?” I asked. 

Michael pointed out that he loved slushies so he wouldn’t care. I simply rolled my eyes and hooked my phone up to the charger. Michael fell down and sat in one of may bean bag chairs and I sat in another one close to him. We just continued talking, he’d wanted to know about the Max incident so I told him. He called me Ollie a bunch which was a tad embarrassing but also kind of nice to hear him say, even if she was just teasing me. 

He took off his hoodie at one point, seeing as we always kept the house warmer than most people. Between coming from California and also my parents spending entire days in the frigid air of hospitals, we liked our house to be warm and cozy. Anyone from here would eventually find it too hot. Nevertheless, I jumped at the chance to wear his hoodie and also to trace his tattoo again. The second my fingers touched his skin, I saw his lips twitch into a smile. 

“You should get your own tattoo, since you like mine so much,” he joked.   
“I wouldn’t know what to get,” I shrugged.   
“Maybe the Triforce or something Zelda related,” he suggested. 

 

I smiled and nodded, liking the idea. I’d, of course, have to think it over. We continued to sit there quietly together. I leaned my head against him and he headed his head on top of mine. I really hoped my mom wasn’t going to walk down the hall and peek into my room, she’d possibly panic. We just sat silently and stared into space, it was a comfortable silence where we didn’t feel we needed to fill the void. Then I thought of something I needed to ask. 

“Hey, Michael?” “Yeah Ollie?” He joked.   
“After school on Friday… would you take me to go visit Rich?” I asked. “I just… he was technically kind of my friend and I don’t know who’s gone out to visit him. I just feel like I should go see him.”  
“You know he used to bully me and Jeremy right?” Michael asked. I slammed my hand to my face. _So dumb…_

“You’re right I’m sorry. Just forget it, I’ll take one of my parents cars instead.”  
“No, I’ll take you, I’ve been kind of wanting to go visit him too,” Michael mentioned.   
“If you call me Ollie while we’re there you’re a dead man.”  
“Good thing we’ll be at a hospital.”


	14. Up We Go

I sat in my car on the side of the street. Nervously tapping the steering wheel with my hands. I should’ve written something out last night. I was sitting outside Jake’s aunt’s house, his actual house did burn down after all, and apparently, his parents were gone because they laundered money. Normally, I’d think that would be bullshit but Christine told me and she wasn’t one to gossip. I sighed and climbed out of the car. 

His Aunt’s house wasn’t as big and impressive, but then again she wasn’t the one laundering money. I walked up the pathway to the front door. I knocked and then waited. Nothing. I rang the doorbell and waited. Still nothing. I didn’t even hear anyone walking around inside, I thought about going back to my car and leaving and maybe trying another day. Then finally someone came and opened the door. It was Jake, just who I wanted to see. 

“Hey Jake,” I said quietly. He just stared at me confused. “Look… I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. For pouring Michael’s slushie all over your head. It was rude and unnecessary, and not the right way to handle that situation at all. And I’m also sorry for calling you all those other names that weren’t Jake because I was mad that you weren’t calling me by my own name. I just… a lot of people used to think I was weird for having a name that’s traditionally masculine so when people call me Olive or Olivia I get really testy about it. And you called my one and only friend here a loser didn’t really help either. But anyway… I’m really sorry and you don’t have to forgive me but I would appreciate if you could. But I’m going to leave because this is getting super weird.” 

I turned around and started walking away back down the path. 

“Oliver,” Jake called out. I turned around surprised. “He’s not your only friend.”   
“I’m sorry?” I asked walking back over to the door. Jake hobbled out on his crutches to stand on the porch.   
“That guy? He’s not your only friend,” Jake repeated. “You should hear the way Christine talks about you at rehearsal.”   
“Okay yeah but…” I had no follow up he was right Christine was my friend too. “I’m close with Michael… closer than I am with most people, I guess.” 

Jake raised an eyebrow at that statement. 

“I mean that I’m not good at making friends and trusting people, get your mind out of the gutter, Sleeze,” I laughed. Jake chuckled too.   
“I was just thinking you liked him but if you wanna project your thoughts on me that’s fine.”  
“That’s disgusting,” I said still smiling. I looked down at his cast. “How are you doing by the way?” 

Jake and I talked for a short bit. He was doing well he’d probably have the cast on for much longer than he’d hoped to the point where he’ll probably be doing the play in it. He said a lot of the kids at School thought he was a hero for going into the fire to save Rich. I hadn’t realized that had been the reason he’d gotten hurt. We talked for a bit about the play and I told him I could probably make him a costume that would cover up the cast if he wanted it. He told me he’d think about it. After a couple more minutes I stood up to leave, he called out to me again. 

“Look, I know I wasn’t a good friend to you before, or a good boyfriend to Christine but…” he sighed. “I’ll try to be a better friend to you now, at least.”  
“Thanks, Jake.” I smiled before heading back to my car. Maybe Jake Dillinger isn’t as bad as I thought.


	15. A Therapeutic Chain of Events

It took a bit of work to figure out what room Rich was in. Turns out he was still in the ICU, but thankfully after talking with his brother, we were okayed to stop by. First I wanted to stop in the gift shop and get something for Rich, I had a feeling after talking with his brother that he didn’t get many visitors if any at all. Michael was following me around while I looked at everything trying to decide on what to get him. 

“Should we get him flowers? Do guys even like flowers?” I asked as I looked at some arrangements.   
“Some guys do but Rich doesn’t strike me as one,” Michael pointed out. He had a point. I turned around and saw a cute teddy bear holding a heart that said Get Well Soon. I picked it up and showed it to Michael. “If you’re really hell-bent on getting him something sure.”

I paid for it and we head up to Rich’s room. We walked in and he was leading back slight in bed, one of his hand was elevated. I thought at first he had a blanket over himself and both his arms were in casts, but once I got closer I saw. His whole body, minus his head was wrapped up in a cast. I wasn’t sure if that would be due to broken bones or burns. 

“Hey, Oliver!” Rich said. He looked over at Michael and raised an eyebrow. “What’th he doing here?”   
“That’s Michael, he’s my friend,” I replied.   
“I know who he ith, I uthed to bully him… why would you wanna vithit me?” Rich asked.   
“Well it was Oliver’s idea,” He said. “But I needed to know you’re okay.”   
“Why do you have a lisp?” I immediately regretted asking. “I’m sorry.”   
“The thwhip helped me talk without it,” he looked at Michael. “You gotta help me. It’th off for now or thomething… trying to reboot or whatever, but I need Mountain Dew Red that’h the only thing that’ll turn it off.” 

Michael nodded stating that he knew. I just sat there confused. Rich suddenly let out a yelp of pain, his heart monitor skipping a beat. Then, He seemed fine, other than the fact that he seemed hyper-focused on me now. 

“Uhh…” I said as Rich stared at me. “We brought you a gift.”   
“Oh thanks, Oliver,” Rich smirked. Michael put a hand on my shoulder.   
“Dude back off,” Michael said. His voice was wavering and a little nervous. Suddenly there was another blip with the monitor and Rich yelped in pain. 

“I’m thorry Oliver, it keepth reactivating. They have me on so many drugth for the pain,” Rich complained. Michael nodded and pulled out a Mountain Dew Red from the inside of his coat. Opened it, placed it on the tray beside him and grabbed the straw from Rich’s water and put it in the bottle. “Oh thank god!”

“Okay wait… can someone explain to me what the fuck is going on? Why do you need mountain dew Red so badly? You were yelling about it on Halloween too,” I pointed out. Rich looked sad and Michael sat down beside me.  
“What I’m about to tell you sounds absolutely fucking insane, but I promise you I’m telling the truth,” He said. 

I sat quietly while Michael explained. There was this tiny pill that came from Japan, a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor, or as most people called it for short a SQUIP. It’s very hush-hush and not many people know about it, you can’t just go on the internet and learn about them. If you take the pill and drink it down with a mountain dew, the computer inside of it will implant itself in your brain. From then on it tells you what to do and helps you improve your life, it can make you a straight a student, it can make you amazing at sports, it an even make you…

“Popular,” I muttered. I looked between Rich and Michael. “Jeremy has one too, doesn’t he?” 

Michael nodded. 

“Look, you guyth thould go, when I drink thith I don’t wan’t you to be quethtioned by the nutheth and doctorth,” Rich said. “Hey Michael, in your rethearch did it ever thay how much Red to drink?” 

Michael shook his head but mentioned all Jeremy needs to activate it was a single sip. I shook my head.

“No, no way down that whole bottle if you can just to be safe. When you were yelling at everyone for it on halloween that thing made you burn down Jake’s house,” I said. Rich looked away from me sad, and I realized he never said it was the SQUIP that had made him do that. “I’m sorry…”   
“You guyth gotta go tho I can drink thith before it reactivateth again,” Rich said. 

Michael and I agreed, I placed the bear beside him on his bed. After saying some quick goodbyes and wishing him luck we walked down the hallway. I stepped into the Elevator and hit the button. As the doors closed I heard the most primal and anguished scream I’d ever heard in my life. Michael pulled me closer to him and held me close as we rode the elevator down to the main floor. 

“What did you mean… that you did research?” I asked as we head to the car.   
“Oh uh… well since there’s nothing online I just started asking people,” He said grabbing his keys out of his pocket. “There’s this guy who I play warcraft with who’s brother when from a D student to a freshman at Harvard. Got tired of the Squip or something, and tried to get it out but… there’s so little information about it. He just…. He’s in a mental institution now. I have a question for you actually… Why do you believe me?”  
“Michael…” I scoffed. “I can’t think of a reason you would lie… with _Rich_ of all people. That’s why I believe you both.” 

We got to his car and Michael started it up and put the heat on super high. Letting us both warm up before asking what we should do now. I sighed. 

“Let’s go grab some slushies and get stoned in your basement.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I wanna explain. As of now in this story, Rich's SQUIP is deactivated. But it's not gonna fix everything like in the musical because in the book it's mentioned that there are different/better/updated versions of the SQUIP coming to America (new jersey) all of the time, so for all intents and purposes Rich's SQUIP is an older model, he even says it himself no one noticed him freshman year and by now they're juniors so that's a two-year-old tic tac computer in his noggin.


	16. Ollie Barnes Can't Lose (But she's gonna give it her best shot)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what these titles are at this point. Sometimes they relate to the chapter and the other times im just like yeah sure I'll use that. I digress, enjoy the new chapter!

Christine had invited me to watch the first ever dress rehearsal for the play after school. Mr. Reyes was fine with it and probably wanted to get some opinions on costuming from me. It was amazing to see Christine actually up on stage in her costume. She looked absolutely stunning. The play as a whole? Not the greatest. It was terrible, especially for a high school play. Chloe couldn’t even get her lines right and instead of trying to go over and learn them she’d rather stare daggers at me with Brooke and Jenna. 

Once they’d finished with dress rehearsal and everyone was talking amongst themselves Mr. Reyes called me over on to the state to speak. He just wanted to let me know that they were going to have opening night the week after we got back from winter break. 

“I was just wondering if you would like to join Ms. Canigula in the Cafeteria to sell tickets and perhaps watch the door on the days of the show,” He asked. I nodded excitedly. I loved to spend time with Christine. 

“God, what are you doing here?” Jeremy asked. “Are you that much of a loser you’ve resorted to stalking me?”  
I turned around to see Michael standing on the floor by the edge of the stage. He looked hurt, embarrassed even to have his former best friend talk to him like this again. Think fast. 

“Michael!” I yelled excitedly. I grabbed my bag off the floor of the stage. Hopping right down not even minding to use the stairs I wrapped both of my arms around one of his, using one of my hand to intertwine with his fingers. I quickly pecked his cheek and smiled. “Thanks for waiting for me to be done I’m ready to go.” 

I looked back at Jeremy and the ‘popular’ kids. They all looked shocked, except for Jake who had a knowing smile. Luckily, Michael seemed on board with my improv. 

“Yeah, wanna go grab a slushie before you go home?” He asked. Was he blushing? I smiled and nodded as we left the auditorium hand in hand. 

We didn’t let go of each other’s hands until we got all the way to the car and had to climb in. We sat in silence for a moment while we waited for the PT Cruiser to heat up. Michael looked over at me in absolute awe. 

“That was amazing! You’re so smart, thank you so much,” he said. My heart was pounding as he looked at me. “D’you um… actually wanna go and get some slushies?” 

I shrugged mentioning that I had a huge migraine. I might have imagined it but Michael looked almost disappointed when I declined. Our drive home was silent and not the comfortable kind. 

——————————

I sighed putting my head in my hands. Liz was smiling at me and laughing from the computer screen. 

“That’s so cute!” She said.  
“No it’s embarrassing!” I groaned.  
“Why’s your tongue not purple?” She asked. My eyebrows strung together. “You know… you get a blue slush… he gets red. He asked you out!”  
“We didn’t go,” I told her. “And no he didn’t!”

Liz screeched at me calling me a fool. She pointed out that he was asking me out on a legitimate date most likely. I shook my head, scratching at the top of it. 

“No… That can’t be right… I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me that way,” I said. Liz just stared blankly. “You think?”  
“Well, you obviously like him so what the harm in getting slushies. You already do it all the time.” She said. I groaned. I hated when she made a good point.  
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said. She quickly yelled a goodbye as I hung up on our call. I looked at my phone, it was 6 pm, still plenty of time to hang out. ,i.Okay… Okay, call Michael. I took a deep breath and tapped to call his number. Holding my phone to my hear I listened, the second I heard the ring start my heart jumped and I hung up. _Smooth, Ol, real smooth._ I shut off my phone and tossed it on to my bed. I sighed and flopped down on to my bean bag burying my face against the fabric. 

 

_It can wait till Monday._


	17. Chapter 17

I spent the whole day with Christine. We planned to have a sleep over and work on some banners and signs for the play. We had already sketched everything out and now it was time to paint and colour it all. We were out in the garage, her parents kind enough to move their cars to the drive way so we would have somewhere to paint where we wouldn’t get paint all over their house.

“Are you okay, Oliver?” She asked. I looked up at her from the Zombie Hand I was painting and cocked an eyebrow. “I just…you’ve been pretty quiet all day. Usually you’re more engaging, is everything okay?”   
“Yeah…it’s all good, everything’s… great,” I shrugged, going back to my painting.   
“You know you can talk to me about anything right?” She asked. I looked up at her again. 

She stared at me with genuine concern. It was hard to ignore the puppy dog eyes she was sporting. I bit my bottom lip and looked back down as I painted more. 

“I don’t wanna do that…”  
“Do what?”   
“That thing where we fail the Bechdel Test. That’s not who I am, it’s not gonna be,” I said. She now scrunched her face in confusion.   
“Oliver… you can’t fail that in real life. That’s only for fiction and its the lowest bar. We talk about plenty non-boy related things,” She pointed out. “Seriously, what’s bothering you?” 

I sat up and leaned back, rolling my eyes. 

“Okay fine, you know Michael? Jeremy’s old friend?” I asked.   
“Your boyfriend?”   
“He’s not… he’s not my boyfriend..” I grumbled. I focused back on painting. At least if I was working on the poster I wouldn’t have to see every single reaction she made. 

I’d never been the best at opening up to people. Liz was easy, she was the closest thing I had to a sister. Other people? They were a lot harder. Christine and I were friends, definitely but I wouldn’t have said that we were particularly close. It was a long talk, with a lot of awkward pauses for me to gather my thoughts and articulate them. I told her about how the past six weeks since Halloween that Michael and I had been spending a lot of time together, especially because between Jeremy having ditched him for the popular kids of Midsummer, and also herself being engulfed in play rehearsal neither of us really had any other friends. 

“I just… we’ve grown really close. And it’s hard because I don’t often connect with people so intensely but, talking with Michael is just so goddamn easy. Hanging out with him makes me so glad we moved out here,” I said as I reached for a different color of paint. I sighed as I looked at the sign. “And then yesterday when he came to see if I was done so he could drive me home. Jeremy had to go and say that stupid thing and call him names… I don’t even know what I was thinking.”   
“I think what you did was very nice, Jeremy made it seem like Michael was unwanted at rehearsal and you showed everyone it was the opposite,” Christine pointed out. “You want him there. I don’t understand why is it such a big deal that you liked him?” 

“I don’t date people Christine!” I confessed. I ran a hand through my short hair, scratching at the back of my neck. _How do I explain this without coming out to her?_ My heart pounded in my chest as silence hung in the air. She was just glancing at me as she painted, waiting for me to elaborate more. “I… I’m different, than most people. And I know I am and I came to terms with it a long time ago. A lot of people who I’ve liked in the past have treated me horribly because I told them how I’m different. Stopped being my friend, block me on social media, argue with me for hours before doing the other two. And I’m different from Michael and at some point that’s going to be a huge issue. I don’t- I don’t want him to end up being my ex-friend one day because of it. He’s… he’s important to me and I don’t wanna lose him over something so stupid.” 

I put down my brush and sat back pulling my legs up to my chest. Burying my head against my arms, I just sat in silence. It was so crazy to think I was this worked up about someone who wasn’t even part of my life six weeks ago. Yet here I was, nearly in tears at the thought of losing Michael to the friendship void. I just sat there my eyes shut, listening as Christine’s paintbrush made soft noises as the bristles ran along her poster. Then she started humming while she painted. I was glad, I had a feeling most other people would hound me for more info. It took a couple of minutes to focus on my breathing and calm down. I picked up my brush and we both continued painting. Christine put on some music to fill the silence while we focused on getting our work done. 

By the end of the night, we were watching some musicals and eating pizza. We would sing and dance along. She would dance fairly well, as if she spent hours watching these shows and practicing, and me, less so. I never claimed to be a good dancer though. As our night wound, I sat down on the couch completely out of breath from our musical dance party. Christine crashed down onto the couch as well, before asking if I wanted to go to bed. At my agreement, she left to grab pillows and blankets, and I, being a good guest tried my best to tidy up her living room where we were going to sleep for the night. She came back with two of each and we quickly got settled and snuggled in. Me on the couch and Christine took the love seat. Our heads on the sides of the respective couches that just about touched each other. As I was getting all snuggled in I hear Christine speak. 

“Hey Oliver? You know how earlier you said you don’t wanna lose Michael over something stupid?” She asked. I made a noise in agreement, not particularly pleased to be on this topic again. “Well… don’t you think that pushing him away and ignoring him, might result in the exact thing you’re trying to avoid having happen?” 

 

I stayed silent. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but it made sense. He hadn’t texted or called me since I had declined to get slushies with him the other day, and I hadn’t exactly been jumping at a chance to call or text him either, other than the time I hung up the second it rang. I hurried my head under my pillow and shut my eyes. 

_How the fuck would I ever make this up to Michael?_


	18. We Should Be Friends

Monday came around quickly, I didn’t see Michael at his locker. I didn’t see him anywhere in the halls. I didn’t have any of my morning classes with him, and by lunch, I walked into the cafeteria with Christine. We set up our table and sat down ready to start selling tickets for the play. It was only the first day of us selling tickets but there were still plenty of students willing to buy tickets. It was a leisurely enough job that Christine and I could eat our lunches, there was only a line of a few students at a time. 

I reached into our money case pulling out a ticket as I played someone’s money in. The walked away as the next student approached the table. I looked up to see Michael, I was surprised to see him after not seeing him all day. I was speechless as I looked up at him beaming. He, however, seemed nervous. 

“Can we talk… somewhere?” He asked. I looked over at Christine who waved her hand telling me to go. I shrugged and let Michael outside through a side door in the cafeteria. I held my arms close to my body the chilly December air causing me to shake and shiver as he walked with me. 

“Oli-”“Wh-”

We both stopped talking and I smiled. He told me that I could talk first. 

“Where were you this morning? I waited by the locker for you but you never showed,” I said, rubbing my arms gently trying to generate some sort of heat. He looked down at his shoes talking a moment.  
“Yeah... I saw you sitting there, I was avoiding you ‘cause I realized that I… I needed to think of what to say,” He said. My heart dropped at the thought of Michael intentionally avoiding me. “I just… God, I still don’t know exactly what to say.” 

I just stared silently, letting him have time to think. I rolled my sleeves down and tried to not to let it be obvious that my teeth were chattering. He didn’t need me pressuring him to get whatever he wanted to say out. 

“Okay. I know… I know we haven’t really known each other long,” He said taking a deep breath. “But You’re one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. I’m so glad that we met when we did because you’ve done so much just being my friend that I appreciate. You’re smart and- and you’re funny, and we have so much in common. And despite how much I beg you to play Apocalypse of the Damned with me you refuse because you don’t want to replace Jeremy.”  
“O-okay…” I shivered. I couldn’t help but feel a slight blush creep across my face, but at the same time, I was still freezing. 

“And I’ve felt this way for a while now but I didn’t know if… if y’know, I-I should tell since you said that you’re ace,” He trailed off and looked down at his feet. His voice got lower and some students came back from their car. “But I did some research on it last night and you never said that you’re aromantic which is an entirely separate thing? So I’m gonna just gonna tell you and hope that it doesn’t ruin our friendship because if anything else, I think we should be friends.” 

I was speechless I didn’t know what to say. Michael was quiet too, maybe he was waiting for me to say something? After realizing that I wasn’t going to say anything he took another deep breath. 

“I… I like you, Oliver,” He choked out. “A lot. You’re the most amazing girl I know, and you don’t have to feel the same way but for God’s Sake please say something!”  
“I-I-I like you.. t-t-too,” I chattered. Michael was suddenly pulling off his hoodie and putting it over my head. He tried to start pulling me back inside but I refused to budge. I pulled him to sit on a bench. 

I managed to tell him more or less the same thing I had told Christine over the weekend, without crying this time. He just stood there and listened to me intently until I finished. Then he took my hand in his. 

“Oliver… I don’t mind you being ace,” He told me, shaking his head. I smiled at him, my heart pounding in my chest.  
“Okay,” I nodded. Michael seemed confused. “I’ll date you.”


	19. When the World Comes Down

My parents came home while I was eating dinner and FaceTiming Liz. We said hi to them both and I asked if they wanted me to move to my laptop up in my room. They declined, apparently, they weren’t cooking tonight and had ordered in. I turned my attention back to my bowl of soup and my best friend. 

“Aren’t you going to go to your room and talk to me anyway?” Liz asked. My brows strung together in confusion. “You know so we can talk about that thing?”  
“Liz, I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I told her.  
“Michael,” She coughed. I nodded and turned back in my chair. My parents weren’t in the room anymore but they probably would be soon when their food came.  
“I’ll call you back,” I said. 

I ended the call and took my bowl of soup upstairs. It took a moment or two for my laptop to boot up but I eventually got Liz back on screen. 

“So how did he ask you out?” She smiled, ever so excited and supportive of me.  
“I mean, he didn’t really, we just admitted we liked each other and I said I’d date him,” I shrugged.  
“Well you can’t date him without going on a date,” she explained. I asked Liz what exactly that means. She shrugged. “I dunno, like go to dinner and see a movie. Or a concert. Ou! Or that play that you’re working on.”

“The Play isn’t until we’re back after winter break,” I pointed out. “And I’m not working on it, Christine is."

She continued to talk about and plan this date that I wasn’t sure would ever happen. While she was talking I got a few texts from Michael, my phone out of view of Liz, I tapped out a few replies to him. I didn’t hear her slowly trailing off from what she was saying. I looked up when she coughed. 

“Anything you wanna share with the class?” She raised an eyebrow. I shook my head. “Really? Cause people don’t usually stare at their desk and smile Oliver.”  
“He was texting me about his favorite video game,” I beamed. She let out a breath of laughter.  
“God, you really like him, I’ve never seen you so smitten over a guy before,” she said. She was now also smiling, happy for me. I said my goodbyes and told her I was going to go to do my homework. “Tell Michael I said hi.” 

We hung up and I moved from my desk to my bed. Plugging my phone in to keep texting Michael while I worked on my homework. Every time I saw my phone light up out of the corner of my eye my heart skipped a beat. Even long after I finished my homework I laid sprawled out in my bed still texting him. 

**Ollie**  
— > _So like, my friend says that we should go on a date._  
— > _Would you want to?_  
**Michael**  
— > _I’m there, what and when?_  
**Ollie**  
— > _Later this week maybe?_  
— > we could grab some dinner and catch a movie? Y’know stereotypical shit.  
**Michael**  
— > we’ll need to decide on which movie. —> and if we’re gonna sneak in far superior snacks. 

**Ollie**  
— > we can do that at lunch tomorrow if you don’t mind selling tickets with me and Christine?  
**Michael**  
— > _sure._  
— > we should both got to sleep it’s 1 am. Good Night Ollie.  
**Ollie** - > _Goodnight Michael._


	20. First Date

By the time Friday rolled around we had decided that we’d grab a quick bite to eat Fast Food and then head to the theatre. I was currently up in my room getting ready, which mainly just consisted of me showering after a long day of school, drying off and putting on fresh clothes. My hair was still damp by the time Michael texted me saying he was on his way. I laced up my converse, left a note for my parents letting them know I’d be home late and was out the door.  
I climbed in the passenger seat, Michael had the heat on as high as possible. The second we said hi to each other I realized how nervous I actually was. I was on a date. With a boy! I felt my heart in my throat and was suddenly wondering if I should’ve dressed up more, did I even have anything that would constitute as dressy? As we pulled out my driveway he turned up the radio, it was playing music from his phone. 

“So, do you want to go in to eat or should we just grab food from the drive through and eat in the car?” He asked. I shrugged.  
“That car is warm,” I pointed out. 

Michael simply nodded as we drove. We didn’t talk much we just bobbed our heads to the music. Our silence was different than usual, normally it would just be a comfortable quiet, with music muffled in the background. Michael was always playing music, but not this loud. Something felt off. 

We pulled in the drive through, before getting to the speaker I told Michael what I wanted. He ordered and paid for our food and we drove to the theatre parking lot. Once we got a spot we sat and ate. His music was still playing but he lowered the volume. _C’mon… say something._ I turned to sit facing him. 

“So uh… How was last period?” I asked.  
“Of school?” He questioned turning to face me. He shrugged. “It was alright, study hall’s never really eventful… how was play rehearsal?”  
“They’re all doing pretty good. Though uh… everyone knows about this date,” I mentioned. Michael raised an eyebrow as he looked up at me. “Christine got really excited hearing that we were going out.”

He nodded, though he looked a little nervous about it.

“You okay?” I asked. He nodded again.  
“What did everyone else say?” He asked. I shrugged.  
“Nothing. Jeremy looked confused though, I don’t know if that was a genuine emotion or something his squid did,” I mention.  
“SQUIP,” Michael corrected. He checked his watch. “The movie’s starting soon we should head in.” 

I nodded and we stepped out of his car and walked into the theater. I paid for our tickets in advanced and Michael was sneaking in snacks from home in his hoodie. We got into the theatre and took a seat, it didn’t take long for the theatre to fill up with people. The show was sold out. Understandably so giving what movie it was. After a few minutes of previews, the screen went dark. Then in a blue font, it read.

_A long time go in a galaxy far far away…_

 

Then fanfare. My heart swelled as a smile appeared on my face. I glanced over at Michael, who looked as full of happiness and wonder. For the next 2 hours or so we were just completely entranced and enamored with the movie. We didn’t talk much other than to occasionally whisper something to each other about a particular scene. We ate the snacks and the drinks that Michael brought. And when the lights came on we walked out into the theatre lobby walking side by side. 

It felt a little strange. It was so easy for me to reach over and hold his hand many times previously. At rehearsal, or when Jake bothered us a lunch I had no problem. But now all I could do was feel my heart pound at the thought every time. Or worry about my hands being sweaty or clammy. We just palled around the lobby for a bit just talking our thoughts of the movie. 

“How’d you get into Star Wars?” He asked. “Like what was your first episode?”  
“Oh uhh… I hated it at first. My cousin’s a huge fan and before I met my best friend Liz, I would spend my summers with her,” I said. “She started off with Phantom Menace. Which like, I don’t mind the prequel trilogy as a whole, but…space politics are boring as hell.” 

Michael laughed and told me about how he first watched the Empire Strikes Back with Jeremy one day. That's how the two of them had gotten into Star Wars, but him more so. While he was in the middle of his story my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out to see one word. MOM. 

“Hey, Ma-“  
“Where are you!” She demanded.  
“I’m at the movi-“  
“Come home… now,” she said. I frowned. She never had a problem with me leaving the house before.  
“Okay… be home soon,” I hung up and looked at Michael. “My mom wants me home… like two hours ago.” 

 

We drove home in silence. I admittedly was pouting because my mom cut our date short. Michael pulled into the driveway and we said an awkward goodbye. He waited until I walked through my door to leave, I had waved at him one last time through the window. I walked into the living room where my parents were. 

“Oliver, Where were you?” Dad asked.  
“I was at the movies. I left a note saying I’d be home later,” I pointed out.  
“You can’t just leave the house without telling us who you’re with or where you’re going,” Mom told me. I pointed out to her that Liz and I would always leave. “Neither of you drove or had a car back then. Things are different now we need to at least know where you are and who you’re with. Especially after that house fire.”  
“I wasn’t even at the house when it caught fire I’d already left! Why am I getting punished for something another kid did?! God that’s so stupid!” 

Before they even could even respond I stomped upstairs to my room. After changing into some pajamas I sat down on my bed with my laptop doing homework and messaging Liz. I told her all about mine and Michael’s date and how it was different than when we usually hang out. It was still nice to hang out with him but part of me was nervous the whole time. As I was tapping away on my keyboard I heard a knock at my door. 

 

“Come in!” I called. Mom opened it and leaned against the doorway.  
“Hey hon,” she said. I glanced over at her, still annoyed before turning my attention back to my computer. “Look, I understand that you’re mad and you feel like your being punished for what that kid does. But that kid is in the hospital now, and so was the kid who owned that house. They both almost died. Can you really fault us for wanting to know where you are after that?” 

“I guess not…” I sighed. Mom moved to sit down on my mattress.  
“You know we worry about you, we always have ever since we first held you in our arms,” she said. She reached over to comb my bangs away from my face. As much as she could considering they were still short. She smiled at me. “And we always will. Especially when terrifying stuff happens around you.”  
I gave a small smile back to her. She made a good point, even when Michael first told me Jake’s house has burned down I also immediately thought about what would’ve happened had I not been able to find a ride when I did. I nodded and told her that I’d let her know where I was and who with from now own. She said goodnight and stood up from the bed. 

“Hey, mom?” I asked. “What did you and dad do when you started dating?”  
“What do you mean?” She asked. “Like what did you do for dates?” I asked. She smiled and sat down.  
“Well, we met while we were both in Residency, we didn’t have too much time to ourselves to go out on what we would consider a date night now,” she explained. “But we usually spent our breaks together, we’d swap food that we either brought from home or bought in the hospital cafeteria. And on the rare occasion, we had a day off we would most often stay at home and have a relaxing day together. It never mattered what we did we just enjoyed each other’s company.” 

I nodded. She looked at me quizzically. 

“Why are you so interested in how we dated?” She asked. I took a deep breath trying to think exactly how to word it. She raised an eyebrow at me. “You were on a date with Michael? Weren’t you?”  
“Yeah…” I said quietly.  
“Did you have fun?” She asked. I shrugged, mentioned to her that it was a little awkward and I felt nervous. But in all it was okay and I loved hanging out with Michael. She smiled. “Well… what was different from tonight than when you usually hang out with Michael?” 

I reminded her that we weren’t hanging out, it was a date. 

“Ollie,” She told me. “Your dates don’t have to be anything other than you guys hanging out if that’s what you two are most comfortable with. That’s all dating really is. Spending time with someone who you like.” 

With that, she said goodnight to me again and then left the room. I shut down my computer and curled up in bed thinking about what she had been saying. Maybe she was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very disappointed in myself cause I realized that all of the chapter titles are songs except for the one where Oliver dumps a slushie on Jake's head. I ruined my own bit.


	21. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

I was chatting with Christine as we left rehearsal. Her phone went off and she said her goodbyes to me, her ride was here to bring her home. It was the last rehearsals before leaving for Winter Break, everything was going alright. Though Chloe was still having trouble remembering her lines. I walked to Michael’s locker, I had left a couple of things in there that I needed. As I was grabbing them I heard someone quietly sidle up behind me. I finished grabbing my books and shut the door while turning around to see Jeremy. 

“Oh… Hi?” I said, eyebrow stringing together.   
“I heard you were dating Michael,” He said. I slung my bag over my shoulder not breaking my confused stare.   
“How refreshing to know that Jenna, Chloe and Brooke’s gossip mill got something right for once,” I smiled. I leaned back against the locker crossing my arms. “What do you need to know about my boyfriend for?”   
“No reason, no reason, Just… well Jake and I were talking and we were just surprised,” he said. I raised an eyebrow again. “I mean c’mon, you have to know you’re out of his league.” 

I stood up straighter at those words. Jeremy was still taller than me and seemed completely unfazed at my movement. I could feel my blood boiling in my veins the same as it did that day that I slushie’d Jake. I stared daggers into Jeremy’s eyes, not breaking my eye contact with him. I know it was his SQUIP making him say this, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. My arms fell to my sides as my hands balled into fists. 

“I don’t know who you are,” I lied in a calm, tone. “But if I were you, I’d choose your next words very carefully.”   
“Wait-Wait what? You don’t know who I am?” Jeremy asked. There was something about the way he spoke with that sentence. It was different from the rest of the time he had been talking to me.   
“Well, you bully my boyfriend, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge,” I mentioned. Jeremy stared off confused. I didn’t have time for this. “Look, man, I don’t know what it is you have against Michael, but if you talk to me again you’d better pray that he’s there because trust me… the slushie Jake got was the least terrible thing I could do.” 

I shoved into his shoulder as I walked past him down the hall. I heard his voice one last time. 

“What could you _possibly_ do?” He asked. I didn’t even turn around to yell back.

 

“Ask Chloe!” 

 

————————

Saturday, the first official day of Winter break and I was driving myself to Michael’s house. I had texted him last night about us hanging out so he knew I was on my way over. When I knocked on his door, however, one of his Moms answered the door. I smiled when she opened the door and told me she was pretty sure Michael was still asleep in the basement. 

“Of course he is. He thought I was joking when I said I would pick him up in the morning,” I replied stepping into the house. His mom walked over to the stairs and opened the door. 

“Michael! Your girlfriend is here to pick you up, get out of bed!” She called to him. I flinched ever so slightly when she called me his ‘girlfriend’, by definition I was but it felt off. We heard a groan come from the basement. After a few moments, he came upstairs, dressed and running his hand through his messy hair. 

“Morning Ollie,” he yawned. He kissed his mom on the cheek. “I’ll see you later Ma.” 

I said a goodbye to Mrs. Mell as Michael and I walked out the door. We climbed in my car and I started heading for Starbucks. I ordered for us both and turned around after receiving the drink. He was laying in the passenger seat with his eyes shut. 

“Michael,” I said. He groaned in response. “I got you a coffee.” 

He opened his eyes, took the cup and thanked me for it. It took a few minutes for him to really wake up but as soon as he did we pulled up to a grocery store. We did a little shopping so I could get ingredients. Not too long after were we at my house in the kitchen. We sat down at the breakfast bar with all of the candies we bought, as well as some graham crackers. I was working on making some icing. I could see Michael eating some gumdrops out of one of the bags.   
“Michael… every gumdrop you eat is one you don’t get to put on your house,” I said.   
“Would you rather I starve?” He asked. I chuckled shaking my head, I offered to make him food but he shook his head. “Nah, I wanna build gingerbread houses with you.” 

I passed him the graham crackers and told him to cut out enough for us to make houses with. He nodded taking the knife I had on the counter and got to work. By the time he was done with that I was also happy with the frosting. 

“Have you ever made gingerbread houses before?” He asked me. I shook my head.   
“I did google it though so I know what to do,” I said. I put the icing I had made into a plastic bag and cut off the corner so I could use it to ‘glue’ my house together. “Did I tell you that Jeremy talked to me yesterday?” “What? No,” He said. I held two of my cracker pieces together waiting for the frosting to stabilize and hold them on its own. “What did he say?”  
“He was just trying to be a jerk and asked why I was dating you,” I replied. I laughed. “He said I was out of your league. But the crazy thing is, I acted like I didn’t know you and him were friends. And he started acting different.”   
“Different how?” He asked, getting started on his own house. I explained how he was acting all mean and macho but the second I had said I didn’t know who he was and got on the defensive, it was like when an actor drops character. 

“It was like his script stopped helping him, or like he was too confused to listen to it or something,” I said. Michael let his head fall gently to the table beside his house and I looked back over at him.  
“SQUIP,” He corrected, smiling. “It’s called a SQUIP, Ollie.”

I shook my head, continuing to work on my house. Micheal stuck his hand in my hoodie pocket to take out my phone and quietly play music. He lifted his head up off the table and started working on his. He nodded his head gently to the music on my phone. 

“You know he’s kinda right though, like that you’re out of my league,” he said. I rolled my eyes.   
“I’m not in any league. I’m a _person_ , not a sports player,” I pointed out. Michael laughed.   
“I mean, three months ago you were one of the cool kids, Y’know? If you were to go back in time to the first day of school this year and tell me that I’d be dating the ‘cool new girl’ I would’ve thought you were crazy,” he said.   
“I think you’re crazy _now_ ,” I pointed out. I looked at him trying not to smile but not quite succeeding. He smiled back at me, then quickly reached over to put a dab of frosting on my nose. “Hey! Watch it, you almost crushed my house!”

We spent the next little bit working on our houses as well as joking around. At one point we both started singing along to my music, my parents were gone out for the day so we had the house to ourselves. We could be as loud and ridiculous as we wanted. I started decorating my house making a wreath out of tiny Christmas tree shaped sprinkles. above where I would eventually design a door. True to my word I did keep the gumdrops away from Michael during the decoration process. There was still a bunch of candy left over so we just placed out houses to the side and began eating.

“Maybe the fact that Jeremy was confused, means that he’s not too far gone with his SQUIP?” I asked. Michael shrugged, resting his head and his arms on the counter. “Well, I hope that I’m right, ‘cause I’d like to meet your friend Jeremy and not the asshole we currently know.”   
“Oliver, I appreciate you being optimistic and what not but I don’t think the Old Jeremy’s coming back,” He said quietly. I rubbed his shoulder comfortingly for a moment before I stood up. I started cleaning up all the crumbs, icing, and candy. While I was tossing the icing bowl in the sink I looked over at Michael.   
“Did you notice that your mom called me your girlfriend this morning?” I asked. He smiled.   
“I did, why?” He asked his eyebrows stringing together. I looked back over at him.   
“Why did she call me that or why am I bringing it up?” Michael specified he wanted me to answer the second question. I scrunched my mouth a little bit trying to think of how to word it and ended up with a shrug. “I dunno, it just felt weird to me. To be called that.” 

“Weird? Weird how?” He asked standing up and walking over to me. He looked so nervous until I gently put my hands not either side of his face.  
“Not in whatever way you’re thinking,” I shook my head. “You don’t need to get all worked up I still like you, and this, us. And I know that by definition I’m your girlfriend but I just… I dunno it feels off. I don’t know if I just don’t like it or if it’s because I’ve never been called it before.”   
“Oh well… I can tell her to refer to you as something else.”

I raised an eyebrow wondering what else I could possibly be called. I was in disbelief that it would make much of a difference. Michael smiled, gently wrapping his arms around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. 

“Well, there’s the obvious, your name, or we could refer to you as my significant other,” He said. Then his face got close as he rested his forehead against mine, I audibly gulped having not expected that.   
“Significant Other is such a mouthful,” I muttered. I could feel butterflies flying in my stomach with how close he was to me. Sure we’d been close up and personal in each other's faces a couple of times, but not often enough to be used to it yet. Michael sighed and pulled back reaching his hands up my wrists and holding on to them. 

“Hm.. what about…” He started looking off in all corners of the kitchen as he thought. A smile came to his face with an idea. “What about Sweetheart?” 

If I hadn’t been holding on to him I’m sure I would’ve melted straight into the floor. I beamed and nodded. Sweetheart. It didn’t sound like anything too serious for a couple of teens and plus it sounded super cute. 

“I think sweetheart is something I can get behind,” I said. Michael nodded back at me, his one hand now running up and down my arm.  
“Okay, I’ll let my moms know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys believe there are only six chapters left!?


	22. Chapter 22

Christmas came and went. It was just a small celebration with my parents and me. I got a few gifts, art supplies really, and they told me that I had a bigger present coming in a couple of days. I was hanging out in the living room making use of my new gifts when I heard the doorbell ring. Mom called from upstairs asking if I could answer it. I guess she was expecting someone? I walked up to the door and opened it to see someone familiar standing outside. 

“Oh my god, Liz?!” I yelled. My curly haired best friend stood before me, all bundled up in winter clothes, beaming. She ran inside and hugged me tightly. “Oh my god, what are you doing here?!”   
“You think I’d let you celebrate New Year’s Eve without me?” She asked. My dad stepped through the threshold behind her and closed the door. “Our parents got to talking and decided to fly me out here for a few days.” 

We both shrieked with happiness before I brought her and her things up to my bedroom. We got all of her things situated and she texted her mother, letting her know she arrived safely. Afterward, she sat on the foot of my bed and looked up at me, smiling.

“So what are we doing for new years?!” She asked. I shrugged.   
“My original plan was to just face time with you,” I explained. “Mom and Dad are going out with some work friends who are having a party.”   
“Do you think they’d let us have a party?” Liz beamed. I raised an eyebrow wondering who she expected me to invite. “You could invite your boyfriend over. And that girl from the play… Chrissy?” “Christine,” I corrected. I shrugged. “We have a few days to ask and plan.” 

————————

My parents had been all for it, Christine and Michael both said they’d come over. Liz and I decorated the living room with metallic gold tinsel curtains, a string sign that read Happy New Year in black covering the window. Against the wall we had number shaped balloons sorted to say 2016, a bunch of regular black and gold balloons littered around the floor. Confetti poppers, noisemakers and even plastic flute glasses. Of course, none of us would be drinking champagne but we had sparkling apple juice, ginger ale and other drinks we could have. 

Mom and Dad had given us money to buy a pizza and I brought my old game cube into the living room along with a speaker for my phone to play music. Liz and I stood in the middle of the room, the tunes quietly playing from the speaker, we admired our work. Then suddenly my doorbell rang. We bounded over to the door and I opened it. Michael and Christine were standing outside. I quickly let them in. 

“Guys, this is my best friend, Liz, from L.A,” I said gesturing to Liz standing in the kitchen. I pointed at Christine. “Liz this is Christine, she and I work on the play together, and this is Michael… my boyfriend.” 

They all exchanged greetings before we poured ourselves drinks and sat down in the living room. I started up the game so we could begin playing Mario Kart Double Dash. I started hooking up the controllers and handing them out.

“Michael, player one,” I said handing. “Christine, player two, and Liz… player four.”   
“What? Why do I have to be player four?” She asked.   
“‘Cause my favorite controller is in the player three slot,” I said. Liz took her controller and Michael started the game.

I lifted my wire above the one for Christine’s controller and moved to sit beside Michael. He chose to play the All Cup Tour on 100cc. Michael chose to play Mario and Luigi, Christine chose the Princesses, I chose Waluigi and King Boo, and Liz chose Toad and Toadette. Then we started. It took a little over an hour to get through all the cups, with a couple of breaks in between to go to the bathroom or refill our drinks. It was the first time in a while that I’d played against actual people and not the computers. 

In the end, we received a cutscene showing Waluigi and King Boo on the parade car, making me the reigning champ. Mario and Luigi drove behind making Michael second place, and Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa, a computer AI team, were in third, Liz had been fourth and Christine not familiar with the game at all was in seventh place, Rainbow Road was not kind to her. I looked down at my phone for the time before looking at all my guests. 

“I’m gonna order pizza do you guys wanna play Smash Bros Melee after this?” “But I’m terrible at these Oliver,” Christine pointed out.   
“It’s just button mashing, trust me you’ll do better than you think,” Liz explained switching out the discs. After asking what everyone wanted and unanimously deciding on cheese I went into the kitchen to call up the order. I came back to see Liz and Michael explaining to Christine about which buttons did what for your Smash character. 

I sat down and we began to choose characters. Christine saw Princess Peach and chose her immediately, Michael decided to be Kirby, Liz looked me dead in the eyes before moving her cursor over to choose Ganondorf. I sighed, then smiled before moving mine to choose Link. We played a few rounds and despite what everyone else was key mashing and I was actually using the controllers, Liz managed to beat us all. 

“Oh and we’re in the hero dies timeline!” She cheered for herself. The doorbell rang and I stood up.   
“Pizza and then a rematch!” I demanded before leaving the room.

We hung out at the breakfast bar, eating away at our pizza. I felt really happy that all of my friends were all getting along so well. Sure, Liz and Michael and I all had the fact that we liked video games and geeky pop culture in common. But Christine fit in too, despite the fact that her interests were mostly theatre related. While we were eating I tossed one of my pizza crusts down on Michael’s plate.

“Oh, can we all say what our favorite memories were of this year!” Christine said. “I’ll go first, my favorite memory was the first day of the play rehearsal, because rehearsal is always the highlight of my life. Even if Mr. Reyes is trying to ruin that with Zombies.”   
“Oh, I got one, When Oliver and I went to Comic-Con, in full cosplay that we spent half of a year working on,” Liz smiled. “We went as Link and Zelda.”  
“My favorite memory is Halloween,” Michael smiled. My eyebrows strung together in confusion as I watched him eat one of my crusts.   
“Didn’t you and Jeremy have a fight that day?” I asked.   
“Well, yeah but not that part,” He said shrugging. “I meant the end of Jake’s party when I actually ran into you, and we left, grabbed slushies and just hung out the rest of the night.” 

My lips couldn’t help but break into a smile as I felt a slight blush come to my cheeks. God, I’m so damn lucky to have him, Liz elbowed me in the side. 

“What’s your favorite memory?” She asked. All three of them were now staring at me as they ate their pizza. I tilted my head, drifting off into thought. My favorite memory of this past year?   
“Tonight,” I responded pointedly. I nodded as if agreeing with myself. “Tonight is my favorite memory of this year.” 

“Boo,” Liz joked. “Cop out, it’s not a memory it’s an active event.”   
“Seriously though, there’s not a single moment this year that’s been as good as right now,” I said, gesturing between the three of them. “When else would I have my new friends and old friends. And my adorably amazing boyfriend all in one place?” 

Michael smiled, before gently grabbing my hand with his and intertwined our fingers.

“Get a room,” Liz laughed as she took a bite out of her pizza. Christine, however, was swooning at us both. “C’mon I wanna play more video games. 

————————

Hours had passed, we’d alternated between Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Christine was starting to get better and Liz wasn’t as rusty at Kart as she had been earlier in the evening. I looked at the time on my phone and quickly switched the tv to the live show of New York. It was only two minutes to midnight, so I clambered to my feet and walked over to where Liz and I had put all of the noisemakers and confetti poppers. We had enough popper that everyone got their own, there were a couple of noisemakers so I gave them both to Liz and Christine. Everyone else stood up too, our eyes glued to the tv. The camera was now on the ball in New York and it was beginning to move. 

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two,” we all chanted. The ball hit the base as we let off our poppers, as I felt someone wrap an arm around my waist. I turned just in time for Michael to lean in pressing his lips to mine. 

I dropped my now empty popper in shock before my hands almost instinctively rested on either side of his face. I gently kissed him back as I rubbed my thumb across his cheek, forgetting that Liz and Christine were also here. It wasn’t until Michael pulled away that my heart stopped hammering in my ears. I could hear Christine and Liz celebrating with their noisemakers again, and confetti was still falling down. I felt my face flush as Michael and I simply looked at each other. I smiled. 

_I’d just kissed my boyfriend for the first time._


	23. No Below

I walked through the halls off the hospital alone, after dropping Mom off her lunch I figured I’d visit Rich. I walked up to his room and knocked on the door as I walked in. I noticed the curtains drawn around two of the other beds. 

“Rich?” I whispered. “You here?”   
“Oliver?” 

I walked over to the curtain I heard his voice come from, pausing a second to verbally confirm if it was okay for me to come into his section of the room. I quickly dipped in and smiled at when I saw him. He was looking much better than last time. 

“Hey,” I said quietly not wanting to disturb the other patients. “How’re you doing?”   
“Thith plathe ith boring ath hell,” he said with his lisp. I nodded in solidarity. “What are you doing here?”   
“Oh well, my mom forgot her lunch at home so I dropped it off and then figured I should come to see you,” I replied. “I take it the Red worked? You look better than you did last time I saw you.” 

Rich instantly beamed, he seemed so amazingly happy. He told me that at first it was horrible but after a while his mind was clear. He felt strange for a bit like he was missing part of himself, but ultimately he was free, he was like a new person now. He could be himself from now on. 

“How long did you have it?” I asked.   
“Since Sophomore year,” he replied, my eyes widened. “Yeah. Crazy to think there are probably some people who keep it all through college and shit.”   
“Well, I mean, that’s probably what the people who make them want,” I pointed out. I sat down in a chair making myself comfortable. “Kids and Teens are more unsure of themselves, don’t know where or how to fit in. Not to mention some are under pressure to be perfect. It’s easier to convince someone who’s young that they need something to be better, I think. And eventually, those kids will turn into adults and take on important jobs… That’s actually a terrifying thought.” 

Rich stared at me a little in awe, and a little in fear. I grabbed the remote for his tv and tried to turn it on. Black screen. I tried again but still nothing.   
.  
“Do you not have a tv?” I asked. He nodded his head quietly, almost as if he was ashamed.   
“Things aren’t the greatest back home, so we can’t afford it,” he admitted. _Oh hell no, no no no, he was gonna be stuck in here for so much longer_. 

“I’ll talk to someone.”  
——————————

Mom and Dad were home for dinner that night. We were eating lasagna soup and I was explaining to my parents about Rich. That he was my friend, and the kid who burned down the house on Halloween. They were always really understanding so I figured I would go out on a limb. 

“I just.. he’s gonna be there for so long, and it’s not like he can just get up and walk around and do stuff to pass the time,” I explained. “Do you think… we could like I dunno… pay for a tv bill just for a month or so?”  
“You’re aware of how expensive hospital tv is right?” Mom asked.   
“Yeah, you guys tell me all the time about how it’s bullshit it costs so much, and he can’t afford it,” I pointed out. “I’ll get a summer job and pay you back? I’ll start babysitting, please just can we do this? He’s my friend.”   
“I’ll look into it,” Dad said. “Once you show me a resume.” 

I leaned over and gave him a huge hug. I thanked him profusely as I quickly finished up my soup. I helped clean up the kitchen before heading up to my room to type up a resume.


	24. Back In The 90's

I walked up to Michael who was grabbing things out of our locker and looking at them. I quietly leaned over to peck his cheek. He jolted before noticing me and smiling.

“Do you not keep your things in binders?” he asked.  
“I mean, I slip them inside the textbook or my binder,” I pointed out.  
“How do you manage to study if your worksheets disorganized?” He asked.   
“I write them out by hand all nice and color coded.”

He let out a breathy laugh before pecking my lips. I leaned back against the locker doors and looked at him. 

“Then you don’t need any of these?” He asked holding up the papers. I shook my head before walking off to grab the garbage can by the fountains. Bringing it back Michael crumpled up a bunch of papers and tossed them in the trash. He went back to cleaning out his locker. “So, uh there’s this guy at Spencer's gifts, he’s gonna sell me a case of Ecto-Cooler. Wanna come with me? We can grab some food and walk around the mall.”

“Ecto-Cooler?”

“It’s the Ghostbusters tie in drink that they stopped making in the nineties! It tastes like ghosts,” he said. He was absolutely beaming. I smiled, it was so nice to see him get excited about things. “But he’s only holding it there tonight so I wanna go right after school.”  
“Oh, I can’t tonight,” I said. I grimaced at an old sushi container that he tossed in the garbage. “My dad’s office secretary is going on a date tonight and needs someone to watch her little monsters, which means that I have to babysit.” 

Michael fake pouted, disappointed that I would be unable to enjoy Ecto Cooler with him. I laughed and cupped his face with my hands. Gently running my thumbs on the apples of his cheeks, I gave him another kiss, this time on the lips. He returned to smiling once I pulled away. 

“We’ll be able to hang out the whole rest of the weekend. And then after play rehearsal during the week but not Thursday or Friday because Mr. Reyes wants me there to sell more tickets at the door, and to help with costumes,” I told him. “Are you coming opening night?”   
“Why? To watch every member of this school who’s tormented me, and my ex-best friend who tossed me aside do some stupid Zombie bullshit for two hours?” He said turning his attention back to his locker.   
“Okay, you love Zombie Bullshit,” I pointed out. “And it’s not about who’s in it, it’s about school pride and shit.”

“Ollie, we both hate this school.”   
“Yeah, but Christine _doesn’t_ , and she’s our friend. So we’re contractually obligated by the rules of friendship to support her,” I explained. Michael made an offhand comment about how he never signed a contract. I rubbed at his shoulder and apologized to him that I couldn’t hang out.   
“It’s fine, I get it… kind of,” He said. “You didn’t know Rich as the bully I know him as. He was just your friend, and you just wanna do something nice for him. You’re really kind O. So I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders giving him a tight hug. He gently wrapped his arms around my waist. We just embraced in silence. It would be a lie if were to say I didn’t feel a little bad, sure Rich didn’t wanna be who the SQUIP made him anymore, but that didn’t change all the things he put Michael through. I pulled away from the hug a little to look at him. 

“Of course, we can do whatever you want tomorrow,” I said. I could see him go to open his mouth. “I’m not being your player two for A.o.t.D, I will, however, take your player one spot if you want me to play it with you so badly.”   
“I will concede my First Player status to you just this one time,” He agreed, he pulled at the hall pass lanyard around my neck. “Shouldn’t you get back to class?” 

————————

“Zombies on your left!” Michael yelled. I let out a short shriek as I tapped the buttons I needed to kill it. Michael’s character was circled by a hoard. I tried to move over to reach him but by the time I did and started trying to kill the Zombies he had died. It was only a short while before they finished me off too. GAME OVER flashed up on screen as Michael and I sighed, I turned to face him. 

“I know I said we could do whatever you want,” I mentioned. “But, we're terrible at this, is there maybe anything else you wanna do?”   
“Hey, I am great at this game. I'm just not used to looking at a different character. Are you not having fun dying?” He asked scooting closer to me and putting an arm around my shoulders. He faked an exasperated sigh. “I guess we can try finding something to watch on Netflix.” 

I snuggled easily back against him, putting his arm down over my stomach so I could hold his hand. I smiled as he picked up the remote and switched the tv signal around.   
“I’m down to Netflix and Chill with you,” I said as I continued getting comfortable.   
“Ollie no…that… that’s not what that means,” He told me. I looked at him quizzically. “Netflix and Chill doesn’t actually mean you’re chilling. It means having sex.”   
“What? No it doesn’t,” I argued sitting up again. He nodded his head and pulled his phone out of his pocket, I saw him type in the phrase and click a link to urban dictionary. He cleared his throat.

“A subtle way to lure a girl to come over to your place, initially as just a "friend", so that it can lead to an opportunity of getting intimate with her while something is playing on Netflix.” He read in a serious, voice. “Romantic movies that the girl is interested in watching are ideal for getting her into the mood... told you.” 

Michael clicked on a show saying that he’d heard good things about it. I was just staring at him dumbfounded, he rolled his eyes before pulling me to lean back against him. The show he had turned on was full of animated humanoid animals, though there were also some humans. It was weird, but a good weird. We watched it in comfortable silence, only breaking it to laugh at the jokes or sight gags. Halfway through one of the episodes I snuggled up to Michael and shut my eyes, I could swear I felt him gently kiss my forehead just before I fell asleep.


	25. The Play

It was opening night and I was helping set up chairs, and the set. I wouldn’t need to take my position at the makeshift ticket booth until an hour before opening. As I was propping up part of the scenery Christine stopped my and tossed a bunch of props on the table. I looked at her as she walked off to grab more chairs, balancing the set piece I followed her. 

“Hey dude,” I said grabbing a couple of chairs and walking with her. “You okay?” “I can’t believe him! I told him on Halloween I needed to figure things out for myself!” She complained. She stopped seeing the look of confusion on my face and signed. “On Halloween, just before I got out of Jeremy’s car he asked me if I wanted to go out with him. I told him no because well, Jake and I had just broken up and I figured I should take some time by myself and figure out things. And he just walked up to me and asked me if I wanted a SQUIP- ugh! Can you believe him?”  
“He offered you what?” I asked. Christine started explaining the SQUIP. “No no… I know what it does Michael told me. He offered you one?” 

“Yeah, like he assumed that I wanted one just because I said I had some stuff to figure out,” she said. “They’re terrible. I knew someone at theatre camp who had one and he’s in a mental hospital right now. I would never take one.”  
“Well think of it this way, you have what? Three performances of the play?” I pointed out. “Three more days and then you never have to talk to that asshole ever again. And if he does talk to you after that, I’ll fuck him up.”  
“I don’t think pouring a slushie on someone counts as fucking them up,” She joked. “But I appreciate the thought.

I laughed and we finished setting up the chairs. I head out to sit at the table with a few other students who had volunteered, a lot of them freshmen, to accept and sell tickets. It was a very mundane and repetitive job. Grab the ticket, or some money, put it in the box tell them to enjoy the show. Lather, rinse, repeat. The only time I ever really looked up and paid attention the people in line was near the end. Someone put down a bottle of Mountain Dew Red next to a bunch of spare change and a five dollar bill. I looked up immediately to see Michael standing there, I smiled up at him. 

“Sir, I’m sorry but your money is no good here,” I told him. I pulled a ticket out of my pocket. “I bought you one like a week ago.”  
“What about you?” He asked.

I pointed out that I was basically given Crew status by Mr Reyes. He nodded before kissing my cheek. Seeing as he was the last person in line I locked the money box and told him to go grab a couple seat for us both. I put mine and the various freshman’s money boxes in Mr Reyes’ office before walking into the theatre and joining Michael. Christine came out from behind the curtain.

“Hello and good evening thank you so much for coming to this production of a Reimagining of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Nightmare About Zombies,” She started. She went on to talk about how much of a rough year we’d all had, and about Rich and saying that he would know the show must go on. I chuckled as I leaned my head on Michael’s shoulder, Rich didn’t give two shits about the Play. His SQUIP had only told him to sign up because that's what Jake and the Girls were doing. 

The play began and it was more or less the same as watching the rehearsal. Or at least it had started that way. They stumbled on some of their lines and forgot the right blocking. Except for Christine, she was amazing and on top of it all. Then in the second scene, everything suddenly changed. Chloe was struggling with her lines and then suddenly let out a loud blood-curdling shriek, immediately after she was impressive. I lifted my head off Michael’s shoulder, and looked at him, he seemed just as confused

“This is good for a high school play,” he said. My conversation with Christine suddenly clicked in my head.  
“We need to go backstage, now,” I muttered pushing him out of his seat. He immediately complied, standing from his chair as we quickly slipped out the door into the hallway. “Fuck fuck, I forgot to tell you. Christine told me that Jeremy offered her a SQUIP.”  
“What? Shit,” he said the realization washing over him. “That was _way_ too good for a high school play.” 

We ran around to the stage entrance, being the first one there I threw open the door. Michael ran inside, I followed close behind running directly into him when he stopped a few feet from Jeremy. He looked up happiness and relief on his face that Michael was there. I moved slightly to stand beside my boyfriend while Jeremy confirmed they were all squipped. 

“You really came to see me in the play?” Jeremy asked. Michael nodded.  
“Even brought my own refreshments,” He smiled pulling out his Mountain Dew Red. “Told you I did my research.”  
“Amazing, give it to me!” Jeremy demanded.  
“Okay- wait, NO!” Michael said going from holding the bottle out to him to pulling it closer to his body. The two of us looked at him dumbfounded. “I need an apology, I think that’s an order. You treat me like I don’t exist, then you blow me off when I try to help you.”  
“Fine I’m sor-“ Jeremy started but was cut off by something. I tilted my head in confusion. Michael was mad that he wasn’t getting an apology, questioning if it was too hard for Jeremy to do. “Yes c’mon man this is important.”  
Michael backed away as Jeremy reached for the bottle. “This is important to me!”  
“It’s a word!”  
“It’s a gesture!” Michael yelled back. “Gestures matter!”

Suddenly, Jeremy started throwing punches at Michael. Not a lot of them landed, though, it was weird to see. Michael wasn’t particularly agile so it didn’t seem like he was dodging them. It was like watching a really bad choreographed fight sequence. 

“Oh, this is so _you!_ You love to feel _superior!_ ” Jeremy yelled as him and Michael ran around backstage. I stood there absolutely dumbfounded. “You just listen to music on _vinyl_ and eat eel in your sushi and don’t care about being _popular!_ ”  
“Of course I care, I just know it’s never gonna happen!” Michael yelled back. 

“So you _resent_ me because I didn’t give up like you did?”  
“I don’t resent you! I’m jealous that you tried!”  
“WELL I’M JEALOUS THAT YOU DON’T!” Michael was back up against a wall, and I slipped over without making much of a sound.  
“Then why are you hitting me?!” Michael asked.  
“I’m not trying to hit you!” Jeremy yelled. Both of his arms threw another punch missing Michael and going over either shoulder. I carefully grabbed the mountain dew before shoving Jeremy away from him. 

“For fuck’s sake, now’s not the time for this! We’re trying to stop a total fucking take over!” I yelled.  
“It’s my squip! It’s taking over my body I need your help! I! AM! SORRY!” Jeremy yelled. I looked over at Michael, who seemed pleased to finally have gotten his apology.  
“Just hold him down,” I said cracking open the lid. 

Michael wasted no time before pinning Jeremy to the floor and holding his arms behind his back. I knelt beside them both and tilted Jeremy’s head back. I uncapped the bottle and just as I went to pour the Mountain Dew into his mouth I went flying back and hit my head against a wall. I heard the boys yell gasp in surprised as I lifted my head it was aching. I looked over to see Jake, sans crutches.“It healed your legs?” Jeremy asked.  
“No… but I can’t feel pain.” He replied. I looked around, the bottle was nowhere near me. _Fuck._ Michael helped me up, gently cupping my head and looking at me. I shrugged him off, there were more important things at the moment than my possible concussion. 

“There you are Jeremy,” Brooke and Chloe talking in unison.  
“What fucking Stephen King bullshit,” I muttered.  
“I just want you to know I’m not mad that you broke my heart and slept with my best friend,” Brooke said.  
“And I’m not mad that you dated my best friend and wouldn’t sleep with me,” Chloe added. Suddenly both girls had the realization that Jeremy never actually slept with either of them and then once again spoke simultaneously.

“Oh my god, why was I so jealous of you? You were jealous of me? That’s the nicest thing you ever said to me! Sisters forever, jinx.” 

Michael grimaced, but Jeremy’s eyes finally found the bottle. He nudged Michael and pointed it out. Most of the drink was unfortunately spilt all over the backstage but there was enough left in it for one sip. 

“How’re we gonna get past them?” “Apocalypse of the Damned!” Jeremy said. 

And with that Jeremy walked over to Jake, while Michael and I took on Chloe and Brooke. After shoving the three of them to the side Michael ran over to the mountain dew and was held back by Jenna. He carefully kicked it in my direction, I grabbed it ran around Jake and tossed it to Jeremy. He brought the bottle to his lips, only to immediately take it away and look off in the distance. I followed his gaze and saw Christine. 

“Jeremy?” She asked. Suddenly everything calmed down, Jenna let go of Michael and he scrambled over to me. Jeremy walked over to Christine. “You are the person I want to be with every day, and this is something that I’ve been afraid to say.”  
“Christine?” I asked and also walked over. I could feel my chest tighten as I approached. She didn’t even appear to register my voice.  
“You’re the guy I’m so kinda into, the guy I am totally into,” She smiled, I put my hand on her shoulder but she just walked toward Jeremy, saying that she loved him. 

My heart shattered. Michael had told me about this. The same thing happened with Jeremy months back. He’d told me that the Squip had the ability to block certain people from being seen. Michael must’ve noticed because he immediately held me in a tight hug as my vision blurred with tears. She was squipped, and unlike Jeremy, she hadn’t ever wanted to be. I should’ve done something earlier when she told me. I should’ve gotten her to ditch the play, or confronted Jeremy sooner. Then Jeremy handed her the bottle of Mountain Dew Red and told her to drink it. Christine obliged immediately. 

That’s when the screaming happened. First, it was Christine, then Jeremy and Jake joined in. Then the girls. Michael, Mr Reyes, and I all started screaming as well. Then suddenly, it was just Michael and I. Everyone else fainted and fell to the floor. I walked over to Jeremy and Christine, who had fallen together. I checked for a pulse and breath before turning them both onto their side. 

“Michael?” I asked as I went to check on the others. He finally snapped out of the trance he was in, I didn’t blame him for being in shock. “Call 9-1-1.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a sUPER freakin' long chapter. whoa. 
> 
> Two more left!


	26. Astoria

By the time the medics came almost everyone was coming to. They were all taken to the hospital for observation because someone had muttered the word ecstasy. They were all released by the weekend almost. Except for Jeremy, he hadn’t woken up with everyone else. It had been a couple of weeks, and Michael went every day after school to visit Jeremy and stayed until 8:30 when the hours were over. On weekends he would be the first person there to visit him and be the last to go home. The only time we had a chance to see each other would be lunchtime at school when we would eat in his car.

“You know, you can take breaks. You don’t have to be there right at the second that he wakes up,” I told him. He just sighed and shrugged. “There’s this thing, called Compassion Fatigue, my parents sometimes refer to it as secondary traumatic stress. I just… I know you care about him. But just take one evening this week to yourself okay? Seeing him laying in that bed every day isn’t good for you.”

Michael just broke down into tears and buried his face in my shoulder. I gently rubbed his back and nuzzled at his hair, I even tried to hum a song to help him calm down. It sucked to see him so sad, but I didn’t know what to do. It’s not like I could wake up Jeremy, no matter how badly I wanted to. I ran my fingers gently through his hair. 

“Hey tell you what, my parents are gone to Koloa until the eighth,” I said. He pulled back and looked at me confused through his glasses and disheveled hair. “Yeah, how dare they not take me to Hawaii with them I made the same argument when they told me. But like, maybe you could come to my house tomorrow night and sleep over, we could play video games. Or I could go to your place until your moms’ send me home? How’s that sound to you? We can grab some breakfast and go see Jeremy together on Saturday so you won't be alone for hours.” 

“Okay,” He mumbled. I nodded, gently wiping a few tears from his eyes with my thumb. “What if he never wakes up?”   
“Michael, hey, don’t think like that,” I said pulling him close and just holding him. “He’s gonna be fine. He’s gonna be fine.”I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince more. ‘

Later on, I was in study hall with Christine. She’d been back to school pretty much since they’d let her out of the hospital. She seemed to be doing okay, though initially she was really freaked out about having been squipped. I sat in the chair beside her and began mindlessly doodling.

“How’s Michael doing?” She asked I sighed.   
“He’s a wreck, and I can’t blame him,” I mentioned. “If I was in his shoes and it was you or Liz… I’d be just as fucked up over it. Hell, I nearly was opening night.”

Christine raised her eyebrow. I don’t know if she actually forgot what had happened what with being squipped, or acting… or maybe even actively repressing it all. I sighed and explained to her that when the SQUIP took control and she was talking to Jeremy, I had tried to walk over and speak to her, to snap her out of it. But the SQUIP knew better and had already blocked me, and Michael, and possibly everyone else in the play out of her vision. She put a hand to her mouth at first before tossing her arms around me. 

“Oliver, I’m so sorry!” She said loudly, the study room teacher put a finger to their lips and shushed us. Christine calmed down, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I would never intentionally ignore you.”  
“I know, I know you wouldn’t,” I laughed hugging her back. She pulled away and sat back in her seat sighing.   
“I do hope that he’s okay,” she said. I raised an eyebrow.   
“Michael or Jeremy?”   
“Both.” 

—————————

Michael and I were snuggled together in his bed, he told his Moms about how my parents went to Hawaii for a convention. They were strangely cool with me staying the night, if my parents had been home I’m not sure they’d have okayed it. I just wanted to be there for Michael. We’d watched some movies, played some video games with me as player one. He seemed to be doing better than he had at lunch the previous day. He was smiling, laughing, like his usual self. 

“So what time are we waking up tomorrow?” He asked. I shrugged.   
“Visiting hours start at what 8:30? We can wake up at 8 and swing by McDonald’s to get coffee and breakfast,” I told him, I watched as he grabbed his phone and tapped away on the screen. I sat up grabbing a pillow getting ready to move to the couch. 

“What are you doing?” Michael asked gently grabbing my arm.   
“I-Moving to the couch? Don’t you think your moms would get mad?” I asked. He shook his head, saying they were pretty laid back. I was quiet, unsure of what to say. He let go of my arm, mentioning that if I was uncomfortable sharing his bed he’d take the couch. “No, I just…well, what if I like kick you in my sleep or talk in my sleep? Or what if I snore loud.”  
“Okay firstly, if you snore loud it doesn’t matter where in this room you sleep,” he said. “And secondly, do you do any of those things in your sleep ever?”   
“I… No? I don’t think so. The only person I’ve shared a bed with is Liz,” I admitted. Michael pulled off his glasses putting them on his bedside table.   
“I assure you, Ollie, that it’s pretty much the exact same,” He said rolling onto his side facing me. I laid down on my side facing him. “Of course there’s gonna be one minor difference.” 

Before I could even ask what he meant he scooted closer to me and wrapped his arm around me. My heart pounded in my chest as he pulled me closer. I swallowed hard at first as I watched him shut his head and nuzzle his head against my shoulder. Once I felt his warm breath against my arm, I instantly relaxed, snuggling against him I leaned my head against his. 

“Thanks for hanging out with me today, Ollie,” He muttered as we drifted off to sleep. 

———————

The next morning we woke up to Michael’s alarm. Groggily I got myself dressed in the upstairs bathroom, letting him have his room. It wasn’t long before we were in his car and on our way, stopping at this cafe nearby Michael’s house. It was a really cute place that he would come to breakfast with his Moms. We got some food, and caffeine and were off to the hospital. 

“So what floor is Jeremy on?” I asked. “Uhh… he’s on the fourth floor,” Michael said balancing his sandwich and coffee in one hand. I hit the button in the elevator before leaning back against the wall taking a bite out of my own sandwich.   
“Since we’re gonna be there can we visit Rich too?” I asked, mouth still full of food. Michael laughed at me and nodded.   
“That won’t be a problem,” He replied. 

He led me down the hallway, but I knew the route he was taking would lead us to Rich’s room. Was he scared to see Jeremy? We stepped into Rich’s room and as we did I noticed that beside Rich’s bed… was Jeremy. They both had their curtain’s drawn, which I thought was odd but maybe that was Rich’s choice. They were both sleeping or at least Jeremy looked like he was. I took off my jacket and slung it over a chair before whispering to Michael. 

“Maybe we should wait outside?” I asked. He turned to raise an eyebrow at me. “I mean Rich is sleeping, doesn’t that make this feel weird to you?”  
“I mean, we could just close his curtain,” He pointed out. I sighed at him. Suddenly a Nurse walked in. 

“Oh… Hello Michael, how are you today?” She asked. She was pretty, and smiley, with bobbed blonde hair and blue eyes.   
“Hey Evie,” Michael smiled. “I’m good how are you?”  
“I’m doing good, I just have to take your friend’s vitals and then my shift is over,” She said wheeling over a monitor machine. I tugged on Michael’s sweater. 

“C’mon let’s go grab Jer something at the gift shop, and give Evie space to do her thing,” I said tugging him along. Michael stumbled slightly saying a goodbye as we walked out the door. I lead him down to the first-floor gift shop and we began looking around. Most of what was around was either stuffed animals, various items the said a generic Get Well Soon, and then other items that were more specific in why someone would be in the hospital. Of course, there were also flowers but Michael said there weren’t any that Jeremy would like. 

“Hey, What about this?” Michael said. I turned around to look at him, he stood by a wall of baskets of stuffed animals, holding up a blueish hippo.   
“Why a hippo?” I asked.   
“He used to like hippos when we were kids, I’m not sure about how we were kinda way past the what’s your favorite animal small talk,” He joked. 

I smiled and took the hippo and brought it up to the cashier and paid for it, despite Michael saying he would buy it himself. As we started making our way back to the elevator He got a text from Mr. Heere to let us know he was also on his way. We hurried back up to the 4th floor and stopped just outside the room. There were voices, but all the nurses were either at the station or walking around the halls. 

“Ask your buddy, anti-social headphones kid,” Rich’s voice carried. “He’s come by like a ton by the way- Is he your boyfriend? Is he single? Not judging, totally bi now.” 

“I’m sure some special someone would be thrilled to have you, Rich,” Michael said after sharing a confused look with me as we walked in.   
“You think?” Rich asked hopefully.  
“Definitely, but _this_ one is taken,” I laughed. My eyes suddenly fell on Jeremy’s bed, he was alert and looking at Rich and Michael and Myself very confused. “You’re awake! That’s awesome, uhh.. here, Michael and I got this gift for you.” 

“What happened? All I remember was that noise and then…” Jeremy trailed off.   
“Oh man, it was genius! They were communicating with each other- They were linked- which means when you consider the kind of high-frequency sonic disturbance-“ Michael was getting loud, excited and very animated. I put a hand on his chest.   
“Dude, relax, he just woke up he needs to take it easy,” I pointed out. My boyfriend smiled at me as he calmed down, we both looked at Jeremy as he rubbed his head and complained about it hurting.   
“Right, sorry uh… as it turns out you didn’t have to destroy every Squip. You just had to destroy one.. and the rest,” Michael said. He was calm until he finished his sentence and started making a bunch of exploding noises.  
“Well, one from the same batch,” I pointed out. “You know seeing as we deactivated Rich a couple months ago, but yeah. After Christine drank the Red Dew, you all passed out. You were the only one who didn’t wake up shortly after.” 

“I don’t get it, after everything I did,” He said to Michael. “You were still there for me… why?”  
“Well, I can’t take all the credit,” Michael said giving me a squeeze. I raised my hands in surrender. Then suddenly a large man in a suit came barreling into the room.   
“Jeremy! You alright?” He asked pushing past Michael and me to stand right at Jer’s bedside. Jeremy smiled and told his dad that he was glad to see him and feeling good. “Oh thank God! Because you’re grounded. You’re gonna start seeing some serious changed around here young man starting with the-“  
“Dad… you’re wearing…” Jeremy started tearing up as he stared at his father. He laughed out. “Pants?!”  
I glanced at Michael, quizzically. He didn’t respond just quietly mentioned that he’d explain later.   
“Now let’s get down to business, who is this Christine, and why do I have about her from him?” Mr. Heere asked pointing a thumb towards Michael. The smile slowly faded from Jeremy’s face as he looked down at his lap.   
“It doesn’t matter, after what I did, I’m lucky if she wants to even go to the same school as me,” He replied. Michael snorted out a laugh and Jer looked up at him.“It’s reassuring. He still knows nothing about girls,” He chuckled. I gave Michael and playful smack in the shoulder. His dad gave Jeremy the advice to give her a rose and compliment her clothes. Michael put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Say you appreciate that she’s smart.” 

He gave me a quick peck on my temple. I could’ve sworn I saw Jeremy give a little smile, happy for his friend. Rich, meanwhile, shook his head. 

“Nah man,” he said, “You tell her that she excites you sexually.”  
“Rich,” I groaned. Suddenly everyone had their eyes on me. I looked from each of them before my eyes landed on Michael. “Why are you all staring at me?”  
“You’re the only girl here!” Rich yelled. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “If my advice is so wrong I wanna hear what you’ve got for him.”

I looked over at Jeremy, sighing. Michael rubbed my shoulder in comfort as I opened my mouth. I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. 

“I know this isn’t the advice that anyone wants,” I said. “But just be yourself, and not just that but be confident in yourself, as you are now. Like, I’m geeky, even when the two coolest girls in school were wanting to be my friends I still showed up to a party in a cosplay that I wore to ComicCon, and now I have, I’d say arguably, the sweetest first boyfriend anyone could ask for, who I fell for _because_ he was even geekier than me. And for what it’s worth, Christine cares about you. She said that she hoped you were going to be okay.” 

“Thanks, Oliver," Jeremy smiled at me and Michael squeezed me close to him again.  
“Also, I just want everyone to know that this nerd _actually did_ say that I was smart, multiple times before asking me out,” I laughed leaning my head against Michael’s shoulder. I turned to look and gently pecked him on the lips. 

“Get a room!” Rich groaned as Michael kissed me back I simply raised my hand in Rich’s direction and lifted up my middle finger for a moment. Mr. Heere asked Jeremy if he wanted food to eat and after getting an answer he left to go get some food. Michael took a seat in the chair between Jeremy and Rich and I sat at the foot of Jeremy’s bed. 

We spent some time filling him in on school, he’d missed a lot in the few weeks. I let him know how everyone at school appeared to be doing. His dad eventually came back with the food. We stayed around for most of the day encouraging Jeremy to get out of bed and go for walks. Three weeks lying in bed would have destroyed any muscle he had in his legs, so Michael and I would stand on either side of him letting him hold on to us, his dad followed behind just in case he fell. It was slow of course but he had been doing good, even the nurses had said so. Eventually, the time came around for us to head out. Michael said his goodbyes to Jeremy and his dad. While I gave Rich a gentle hug, he quietly thanked me for the tv bill. I picked my military jacket up off the chair. Michael was still talking to Jeremy’s dad, so I turned my attention to Jeremy. 

“It was nice finally meeting the real you,” I smiled giving him a soft hug as well.  
“I’m sorry for everything I said, you and Michael are really good together,” he said. I waved my hand telling him it was all forgiven.


	27. Fellowship of the Nerd

I woke up to my alarm. It was the last day of school before spring break and Jeremy’s first day back to school without his crutches. He’d been doing really well at physiotherapy and was finally good enough that they said he didn’t need them anymore. Michael had texted me last night saying that Jeremy had planned to ask Christine out today and the two of them needed my help. I sat up in bed and sighed, I had to get ready and pick up Christine. 

I walked over to my dresser and grabbed some clothes to wear for the day stopping to look at the binder I would wear for my cosplays if needed. I stared at it for a moment before grabbing it and taking it into the bathroom with me. I took a quick shower and got dressed stopping to stare at myself with my damp hair in the mirror. I’d worn this binder many times for costumes but this was my first time wearing it with my regular clothes. There was something about finally seeing my chest flat in my own clothes, not some green tunic, that felt right. I pulled myself out of my trance and continued getting dressed and left to pick up Christine. 

 

“Morning, Oliver!” She said as she climbed into the passenger seat.  
“Morning,” I said groggily. She passed me a thermos.  
“I made you coffee,” she said. I gratefully took it and drank from the canister. Surely it would wake me up. “Are you excited for spring break?”  
“Ehh... I assume it will be more or less like every other break I’ve had. Just instead of only having Liz around, I’ll have Michael and Jeremy. And you of course.” 

We continued to talk on our way to school, about anything that crossed our mind. Every time she looked over at me, I felt my heart pound in my chest. We arrived at school and both stepped out of the car. I walked over to her, linking our arms together.   
“I actually have something to show you,” I said, gently pulling her along with me. She looked at me confused but complied.   
“Where are you bringing me?” She asked. I smiled as we walked.  
“The courtyard,” I said. She questioned me as to why. I shook my head. “You’ll have to wait till we get there to see. It’s a surprise.” 

I walked into the courtyard with her, and across the way, Michael walked in with Jeremy. Christine looked at me, she seemed a little pale and nervous. I rolled my eyes. 

“Just go talk to him. He’s been back for almost two months and you guys haven’t said a word,” I said giving her a light bump towards him. Christine walked over to Jeremy, I leaned against the brick wall watching from a distance and sipping at the coffee. Michael walked up to me, greeting me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. When he hugged me I felt my breath stop in my throat. He pulled away and looked at me. 

“Are you wearing your cosplay binder?” He asked his eyebrows strung together. I rolled my eyes and sipped my coffee.   
“It’s a real binder,” I muttered. His expression immediately softened. I bit my lip, looking down at my shoes. “Are you... _okay_ with me wearing it?”   
“Ollie,” Michael chuckled. “Since when do you care what people think?”  
“I don’t care what people think… just you,” I replied. Michael pulled me over to a small bench nearby to sit us both down. He looked at me and sighed. 

“Oll,” He said as he took my hands in his. “If you wanna wear a binder, for whatever reason that’s fine by me. I like who you are, not what you look like- I mean obviously I think you’re gorgeous no matter what but.. you get what I’m trying to say right?”   
“Yeah.. yeah I think I’ve got it,” I said. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he stroked my hair.   
“Listen, if you want to experiment with anything, binders, pet names. pronouns,” Michael said quietly, his fingers combing gently through my hair as he spoke just to me. “I support you a hundred percent. Don’t be afraid to come to me with this stuff, if your questioning and need to try something on to see if it fits I’m here for you. And if anyone gives you shit for it I’ll fight them.”

I laughed at that knowing that Michael would never. In fact if either of us were to get into a physical altercation I’d already proven time and time again that it would be me. Michael laughed along with me and we just sat there until Jeremy walked over. We lifted up our head and looked at him. 

“How’d it go?” I asked. Jeremy had his fingers gently tracing his cheek.   
“She agreed to have lunch with me…” he said in shock.   
“That’s great!” Michael said. I stood up and patted Jeremy on the back, Michael pulled him into a hug. The first bell rang, warning everyone it was almost time to go to class. We said our goodbyes to Jeremy before heading back over to our shared locker. As we dug through our bags traded out books, I could see Michael fidgeting. I stared at him, it took him a moment or two to notice and he looked at me. 

“Any particular reason you’re being weird?” I asked.   
“I want to ask you something,” He said. I looked at him, bracing myself for what was to come. “I know it’s far away but I was wondering if you’d want to be my date to Junior Prom?” 

The posed question took me by surprise. I sighed in relief, not knowing what I had been expecting but certainly not that. I laughed a little but said no words, I simply pulled him closer by the collar of his hoodie and kiss him. He took a second to kiss me back before pulling away. 

“Is that a yes?” He asked. I nodded. The final bell rang to let us know we only had 3 minutes left to get to class.   
“I’m not wearing a dress, though,” I said. He nodded in agreement as we started walking in opposite directions. 

—————————

“Spring break!” I yelled. The two boys stared at me as I barrelled down the stairs. I put my hand over my chest in mock offense. Michael and Jeremy were sat on the couch in Michael’s basement bedroom. They each had a controller in their hands. “How could you! I thought we were gonna rock paper scissors to see who got to play?” 

Michael just laughed as he stood up and head upstairs mentioning that he had to grab something. I stammered out an okay, noting it was weird for him to leave the room the very second I’d finally arrived. I shook it off and sat on the arm of the couch by Jeremy

“How was lunch with Christine?” I asked nudging his shoulder. Jeremy smiled.   
“It was nice, we actually talked a lot, both this morning and at lunch,” He nodded his head. “I think we’re gonna give it a shot. So, maybe you and Michael will be able to double date with us someday?” 

I let myself slide down on the couch cushion muttering out a ‘nice’ before giving Jeremy a hug. He laughed at me and hugged me back. 

“Thanks by the way, for bringing her to the courtyard,” He mentioned. “And also the advice that you gave me. I think it really helped.”   
“D’awe, no problem, Jer,” I said. Michael came thudding back down the stairs. We turned our attention to him while he held something behind his back. “What’d ya got there?”  
“Okay well, as you know my birthday was a couple of weeks ago,” Michael said. Jeremy and I nodded. “And my Mothers are really happy to see that Jeremy and I worked through things and that we’re hanging out again. They also really like Ollie, like more than I think they’ve ever like someone, sorry Jeremy.”   
“None taken, Ollie’s pretty cool,” Jeremy said.   
“Nope!” I shouted. I flinched the second I did it. “I’m sorry, I just… I don't like everyone calling me Ollie. I will, however, accept O. from you.” 

“Anyway! Since they know that the three of us will inevitably be hanging out all at once sometimes,” Michael said, he pulled out a box from behind his back. “They bought me another controller!” 

Mine and Jeremy’s jaws dropped. Michael was already starting on unboxing the thing and hooking it up to the console. He turned to me unraveling the cord as he walked over. He held it out to me and I thanked him as I took it. As he moved away from the tv I noticed that now on the screen there were now three colored vertical rectangles. Red for Player One, Michael had already locked himself into that one, and Jeremy was Blue for Player Two. Both I had seen previously when I played as Player One with Michael, but now there was a third box on the screen. A green one and there was black text directly in the center, that I was able to read just before I hit the button.

 

_Player 3 [Press Start]_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks! 
> 
> I hope this story was fun and that it brought you joy and happiness. I enjoyed writing it so much and even feel a little sad to have finished it, but I am pleased with my versions of the BMC characters, and also my OCs. I love them to bits and wish for you to feel the same. Thank you so much for reading Player 3 [Press Start].


End file.
